New York lost a police officer. A Bangladeshi community is mourning a local hero

CNN

2 days ago

Crime
Gun violence
Eric AdamsFacebookTweetLink
Follow
The grief for New York Police Department Officer Didarul Islam stretched from Midtown Manhattan all the way up to the 47th Precinct in the Bronx Monday night.
The crying could be heard from the street, one neighbor who was walking his dog in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx said. New York City Police officers, he told CNN affiliate CBS New York, had arrived at Islam's home with news that one of their own had been fatally shot in the massacre at a Midtown skyscraper earlier that day.
The 36-year-old, one of four who died in the shooting, left behind a pregnant wife and two young boys.
On the Upper East Side, dozens of people — including his fellow NYPD officers, Mayor Eric Adams, and New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch — lined the street after midnight with salutes or their hands over their hearts outside of NewYork- Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
His family and friends, clinging on to each other, escorted his body. An NYPD flag, with green and white stripes and 24 white stars, was draped over him.
Islam was hailed as a hero by city officials and by the NYPD as an officer who 'represented the very best' of the department. Adams said Tuesday morning on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' that Islam was the first Bangladeshi-born NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty.
But the mayor called Islam a 'true-blue New Yorker.'
'He embodies what this city is all about,' Adams said.
New York has the largest Bangladeshi population in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. But in Parkchester, the community is still tightly knit — close enough that Islam's loss was felt beyond his family.
'Our community is very small' compared to others, said Foysol Ahmed, a community leader and taxi driver, who immigrated from Bangladesh in 2002. Over a cup of tea, he highlighted the evolution of the surrounding area, known as Bangla Bazaar, where Bangladeshi and other South Asian businesses line several blocks.
There's Al-Aqsa Restaurant, which advertises Indian and Bengali cuisine, and neighboring Al-Aqsa Supermarket. There's Dhaka Digital Printing and Bangla Fashion House. A sweets shop and bakery has Bengali printed on its awning. On Tuesday, despite the sweltering heat, people roamed up and down the sidewalk outside grocery stores, picking out fresh produce.
Ahmed said he would see Islam here, on Starling Avenue, adding he lived near him and his family. The officer's death, he said, was a shock.
He posted a Muslim prayer and Islam's picture on social media after learning he was killed in Monday's shooting.
'He was a very good officer, he was very good person in our community. Also, he served very honestly,' Ahmed wrote.
That their community can be represented in agencies like the NYPD or the New York City Fire Department, he said, is something that is celebrated.
'We feel proud,' he said.
That sentiment was echoed by Bangladeshi officer Rakib Hasan, who said he worked with Islam.
'It's so much pride is because if you look back 10, 15 years ago, the representation from this community was almost nothing,' Hasan said. 'The transition is amazing.'
Still, Islam's killing Monday 'shocked' everyone, Hasan said, describing the officer as 'humble, down to earth, very friendly, very approachable.' He was the kind of person who helped everybody, he added.
'He was just simply a hard working man, just (an) officer, father of two,' Hasan said, as police gathered Tuesday evening outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid Mosque, awaiting the arrival of Islam's body. 'He's a very familiar face in the community, and we never thought it's going to happen to him.'
Mohammed Ahia, vice president of the mosque, told CBS New York 'everybody is upset.' He described Islam, who attended Friday prayer at the mosque with his family, as very nice and 'very gentle.'
Muhammad Mainul Islam, an imam at the Bronx Islamic Cultural Center, also told CBS New York the Bangladeshi community 'has a friendship to each other, love each other.'
On Tuesday morning, community members were seen continuously coming and going and entering Islam's home. At one point, a car pulled up and several people got out. They took out a case of several dozen water bottles and carried it inside.
The 36-year-old's family is still processing the loss, relatives say. His father, CNN affiliate WABC-TV reports, suffered a medical episode after learning of Islam's death Monday night and is in the hospital. He was his parents' only son, and was about to welcome a third child.
'His youngest son doesn't really understand. His eldest son is like in shock, walking around with his dad's police book,' a younger cousin named Muhammad told CBS New York.
A neighbor said Islam and his family were friendly with the community. When he was walking his dog Monday night, he could hear the family's pain.
'I heard all the kids crying, so it was very sad,' a neighbor said. 'There's just too much … a lot of grieving inside that house.'
Twenty minutes north of Bangla Bazaar is the 47th Precinct in the Bronx. Islam, who had joined the NYPD three and a half years ago, was assigned to this precinct.
He was off duty, working as a security guard at 345 Park Avenue when the shooting began, Tisch, the police commissioner, said. On Tuesday morning, firefighters mounted black-and-blue bunting over the precinct doors.
'He was doing the job that we asked him to do,' she said.
Adams, the New York City mayor, ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff until further notice in honor of Islam. Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a similar order for state government buildings.
Adams said he met with Islam's family Monday night.
'Everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God and believed in living out the life of a godly person,' the mayor said at a Monday news conference.
On Tuesday evening, another dignified transfer of Islam's body began. His body was moved from the medical examiner's office in Kips Bay to the Parkchester Jame Masjid Mosque, about 30 minutes away, where scores of police gathered to see Islam returned to his community.
Scores of officers lined one side of Virginia Avenue, the chatter and noise dying away as a large police escort, led by some 20 officers on motorcycles, arrived to safeguard the ambulance carrying Islam's body.
Tisch and other top department brass were waiting on Virginia Ave. and watched in silence as Islam's body was removed from the ambulance, draped in the NYPD flag. Police stood at salute as officers escorted Islam into the mosque.
'We show up as a brother, as a colleague, as a community member, and the whole community is here,' Hasan said.
CNN's Dakin Andone reported from New York, and Danya Gainor reported from Washington, DC.