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Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Mourners Honor the NYPD Officer Killed in the Attack at the NFL Headquarters Building
NEW YORK—Mourners packed a New York mosque on Thursday to honor a Bangladesh-born police officer who embraced the job of protecting his adopted city and gave his life for it when a gunman opened fire in an office building this week. Officer Didarul Islam 'did believe in the American dream, not as something handed down but as something built with your own hands,' Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Islam's family and friends as his fellow officers lined up rows deep outside the Bronx house of worship.
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Mourners honor the NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in Manhattan skyscraper attack
NEW YORK: Mourners packed a New York mosque on Thursday to honor a Bangladesh-born police officer who embraced the job of protecting his adopted city and gave his life for it when a gunman opened fire in an office building this week. Officer Didarul Islam 'did believe in the American dream, not as something handed down but as something built with your own hands,' Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Islam's family and friends as his fellow officers lined up rows deep outside the Bronx house of worship. Dignitaries and members of the New York's thriving Bangladeshi community also paid tribute to the fallen officer during a memorial that emphasized the importance he placed on his family, background and service to the city. A married father of two with a third child on the way, the 36-year-old was working a New York Police Department-approved private security detail, in uniform, when he and three other people were killed Monday at the Manhattan skyscraper that houses the NFL's headquarters and other corporate offices. 'To our family, he was our world. To the city, he was a proud NYPD officer who served with compassion and integrity. He lived to help others,' Islam's widow said in a statement that a relative read on her behalf at the service at the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque. With officers stationed on surrounding rooftops for security, fire trucks used their ladders to hold a huge American flag over a nearby street. A flatbed truck carried a digital billboard showing photos of Islam and a commemorative message from his union. White House sends condolences After coming to the United States, Islam began building a career in the nation's largest police force. He described policing as 'a blanket of the community, there to provide comfort and care,' the police commissioner said. Islam served as a school safety agent before becoming a patrol officer less than four years ago, and was promoted posthumously Thursday to detective. 'He could have gone into any other occupation he wanted, but he wanted to put on that uniform, and he wanted to protect fellow New Yorkers. And he wanted to let us know that he believed in what this city and what this country stood for,' Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, told the gathering. 'That's the greatest symbol of what we know we are as a country.' In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt began her daily briefing by expressing President Donald Trump's condolences to Islam's family, saying he 'made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his fellow New Yorkers.' A 'humble, steady, and reliable' officer Like others who spoke, Imam Zakir Ahmed highlighted the officer's immigrant background and Muslim faith. But said Islam 'lived at a time when people like him are too often feared, vilified and made to feel like outsiders.' 'It's time for New York and America to give back — to see us, to hear us, to protect our dignity, the way Officer Islam protected yours,' Ahmed said. The eldest of several siblings, Islam supported his parents in Bangladesh, as well as his wife and two young sons in the Bronx, the imam said. The police commissioner said Islam worked a long day at a parade Sunday, then picked up private security hours Monday at the office building. Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, the commander of the busy Bronx precinct where Islam worked, said he was a 'humble, steady and reliable' officer. 'He knew what it meant to protect the place that gave him a new beginning, and in return, he gave everything back,' Ashraf said at Thursday's service. After the service, the streets filled with people, mostly men, kneeling in prayer. Some Muslim officers took part, as colleagues stood in formation behind them and looked on. Later, officers saluted as Islam's casket, draped in US and NYPD flags, was brought to a hearse for burial at a cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey. Another victim, real estate firm worker Julia Hyman, 27, was mourned at an emotional service Wednesday at a Manhattan synagogue. Funeral arrangements for the two others killed, security guard Aland Etienne and investment firm executive Wesley LePatner, have not been made public. Governor praises officer for saving lives Police identified the gunman as Shane Tamura, a 27-year old former high school football player who most recently worked in a Las Vegas casino's surveillance department. Authorities say he believed he had a brain disease linked to contact sports and accused the NFL of hiding the dangers of playing football. On Thursday, police said they found more than 800 rounds of ammunition in Tamura's car and had recovered 47 shell casings in the building's lobby and the office floor where Hyman was killed. Police said Tamura had a history of mental illness, but they haven't elaborated other than to say they found psychiatric medication prescribed to him at his residence in Las Vegas. Officials said he was heading for the NFL's office but took the wrong elevator and went by mistake to another floor. The gunfire seriously injured an NFL employee in the lobby. Islam 'saved lives. He was out front,' Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said at Thursday's service. 'Others may be alive today because he was the barrier.'
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Mourners honor the NYPD officer killed in the attack at the NFL headquarters building
NEW YORK: Mourners packed a New York mosque on Thursday to honor a Bangladesh-born police officer who embraced the job of protecting his adopted city and gave his life for it when a gunman opened fire in an office building this week. Officer Didarul Islam 'did believe in the American dream, not as something handed down but as something built with your own hands,' Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Islam's family and friends as his fellow officers lined up rows deep outside the Bronx house of worship. Dignitaries and members of the New York's thriving Bangladeshi community also paid tribute to the fallen officer during a memorial that emphasized the importance he placed on his family, background and service to the city. A married father of two with a third child on the way, the 36-year-old was working a New York Police Department-approved private security detail, in uniform, when he and three other people were killed Monday at the Manhattan skyscraper that houses the NFL's headquarters and other corporate offices. 'To our family, he was our world. To the city, he was a proud NYPD officer who served with compassion and integrity. He lived to help others,' Islam's widow said in a statement that a relative read on her behalf at the service at the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque. With officers stationed on surrounding rooftops for security, fire trucks used their ladders to hold a huge American flag over a nearby street. A flatbed truck carried a digital billboard showing photos of Islam and a commemorative message from his union. White House sends condolences After coming to the United States, Islam began building a career in the nation's largest police force. He described policing as 'a blanket of the community, there to provide comfort and care,' the police commissioner said. Islam served as a school safety agent before becoming a patrol officer less than four years ago, and was promoted posthumously Thursday to detective. 'He could have gone into any other occupation he wanted, but he wanted to put on that uniform, and he wanted to protect fellow New Yorkers. And he wanted to let us know that he believed in what this city and what this country stood for,' Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, told the gathering. 'That's the greatest symbol of what we know we are as a country.' In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt began her daily briefing by expressing President Donald Trump's condolences to Islam's family, saying he 'made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his fellow New Yorkers.' A 'humble, steady, and reliable' officer Like others who spoke, Imam Zakir Ahmed highlighted the officer's immigrant background and Muslim faith. But said Islam 'lived at a time when people like him are too often feared, vilified and made to feel like outsiders.' 'It's time for New York and America to give back — to see us, to hear us, to protect our dignity, the way Officer Islam protected yours,' Ahmed said. The eldest of several siblings, Islam supported his parents in Bangladesh, as well as his wife and two young sons in the Bronx, the imam said. The police commissioner said Islam worked a long day at a parade Sunday, then picked up private security hours Monday at the office building. Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, the commander of the busy Bronx precinct where Islam worked, said he was a 'humble, steady and reliable' officer. 'He knew what it meant to protect the place that gave him a new beginning, and in return, he gave everything back,' Ashraf said at Thursday's service. After the service, the streets filled with people, mostly men, kneeling in prayer. Some Muslim officers took part, as colleagues stood in formation behind them and looked on. Later, officers saluted as Islam's casket, draped in US and NYPD flags, was brought to a hearse for burial at a cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey. Another victim, real estate firm worker Julia Hyman, 27, was mourned at an emotional service Wednesday at a Manhattan synagogue. Funeral arrangements for the two others killed, security guard Aland Etienne and investment firm executive Wesley LePatner, have not been made public. Governor praises officer for saving lives Police identified the gunman as Shane Tamura, a 27-year old former high school football player who most recently worked in a Las Vegas casino's surveillance department. Authorities say he believed he had a brain disease linked to contact sports and accused the NFL of hiding the dangers of playing football. On Thursday, police said they found more than 800 rounds of ammunition in Tamura's car and had recovered 47 shell casings in the building's lobby and the office floor where Hyman was killed. Police said Tamura had a history of mental illness, but they haven't elaborated other than to say they found psychiatric medication prescribed to him at his residence in Las Vegas. Officials said he was heading for the NFL's office but took the wrong elevator and went by mistake to another floor. The gunfire seriously injured an NFL employee in the lobby. Islam 'saved lives. He was out front,' Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said at Thursday's service. 'Others may be alive today because he was the barrier.'
New York Times
8 hours ago
- New York Times
Final Salute to a Fallen Officer: Images of Loss and Remembrance
Under a cascade of rain, with hundreds of law enforcement officers standing in soaked silence, a white hearse carrying the body of Officer Didarul Islam made its way down White Plains Road in the Bronx on Thursday. 'His watch may be over,' Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at the funeral for the officer, who was killed by a mass shooter in Manhattan three days earlier. 'But his impact will never be.' Commissioner Tisch, who wore a head scarf to the service out of respect for the officer's Muslim faith, told the mourners that he had been posthumously promoted to detective first grade. The service for Detective Islam, 36, was held in his neighborhood at the Parkchester Jame Masjid, the mosque where he had been a benefactor and mentor to young Bangladeshi immigrants much like himself. Mourners included officers from at least 54 of the city's 77 precincts, who saluted the casket as it passed with the white-gloves of their formal dress, along with uniformed members of the U.S. Air Force, the governor and the mayor — and Detective Islam's two young sons and wife, who is eight months pregnant. Inside the masjid was Detective Islam's casket; it was covered with the green, white and blue standard of the Police Department. Outside, thousands of police officers, mourners and neighbors stood vigil along Gleason Avenue. Over the elevated subway tracks, an American flag was lofted between two cranes in his honor. Detective Islam was the first to be shot when a gunman entered an office tower at 345 Park Avenue, where he was moonlighting as part of the security detail. The three other victims lived lives filled with accomplishment and connection, as Detective Islam did: Aland Etienne was a security guard known for putting others first and whose family called him 'a light in our lives.' Wesley LePatner was a top-ranking executive whom her employer, investment firm Blackstone, described as an 'amazing light.' And Julia Hyman was a real estate associate who had recently started working in the building and was said to have had a 'heart of gold.' Outside the mosque, Husne Ara Begum, 67, a relative, said that when she moved to America from Bangladesh, Detective Islam did grocery runs for her, and helped her assimilate. Her voice broke. 'He was a very good man,' she said.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Thousands of mourners gather for funeral of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, killed in NYC shooting
NEW YORK — NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, the cop gunned down in a Midtown Manhattan mass shooting inside a Park Ave. office building, was posthumously promoted to detective first grade during his funeral on Thursday as a sea of mourners, mostly police, gathered outside to pay their respects. An estimated 15,000 people were on hand. Islam was one of the four people killed on Monday by rampaging gunman Shane Tamura in what police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called a 'self-centered, senseless crusade of violence,' as she announced Islam's promotion. '(Tamura) tore a father from his children, a husband from his wife, a son from his family, and, in that moment, he ripped the world away from everyone who knew and loved NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam,' Tisch said. 'His journey was cut too short. But the way he lived this job — with steadiness, with heart and conviction — he reflected everything this title represents.' Islam's father, Abdur Rob, suffered a minor heart attack after rushing to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell and being told that his son had not survived the 6:30 p.m. bloodbath. On Wednesday night, Mayor Eric Adams visited with Islam's family and spoke with Rob and other family members. 'There is nothing more tragic than having a parent bury their child,' Adams said at the funeral Wednesday. 'The pain is so immense. It is so intense, and we (are) thinking about it over and over again.' The mayor said that talking to Rob made him think about his own son: 'I want to say sorry as one parent to another parent. We must live in the spirit of Officer Islam and what he stood for.' Adams and Tisch also went to the 47th Precinct stationhouse where Islam worked on Wednesday to attend morning roll call and talk to cops mourning their colleague's death. Islam had been a cop since 2021. He was in uniform working a paid security detail in the building at E. 51st St., which had been authorized by the NYPD, when Tamura stormed inside with an assault rifle and started firing, hitting him repeatedly in the torso. Tamura, a resident of Las Vegas, also killed building security guard Aland Etienne, 46, and Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, 43, in the lobby. He then took an elevator to the 33rd floor where he killed Julia Hyman, 27, and shot at but narrowly missed hitting a fleeing cleaning woman, before taking his own life. In all, he fired more than 40 shots from a high-powered AR-15 assault rifle, littering the lobby and 33rd floor with bullets and blood, NYPD Chief of Department John Chell said Wednesday. 'I've been doing this 32 years,' Chell said, getting choked up at times during the interview on Fox 5's 'Good Day New York.' 'Just getting there on that scene and realizing you had casualties and there was an active shooter going on. This is not a normal event.' 'We lost four great New Yorkers,' he added. 'They didn't deserve this. This was pure evil. Senseless.' Speaking to other pressing issues of the day, the imam overseeing the service challenged police, local elected officials and mourners to rid the world of Islamophobia and end the war in Gaza. 'Do not stand with him in death, stand with his people in life,' Imam Zakir Ahmed told an overflow crowd at the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque as he prayed for Officer Islam, a Bangladeshi immigrant, loving husband and father, and dedicated police officer. 'He lived at a time when, too often, people like him are feared. You cannot take our sacrifice but ignore our suffering.' 'We commit ourselves to not just to honor him, but to building a world worthy of his sacrifice,' he said. 'A world where freedom is for all, not for some.' ________
