NYPD officer among 4 killed in Midtown

A Nevada man with a grudge against the National Football League burst into an exclusive Park Avenue office building where the NFL has its offices Monday evening and began spraying bullets from an assault rifle, killing four people and critically injuring a fifth.

The shooter, identified as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental health issues, then killed himself, Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. 

The officer, Didarul Islam, 36, was off-duty but in uniform on paid detail doing security work when Tamura stormed into the building and started shooting, hitting Islam in the back. Islam was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where he was pronounced dead. 

Security officer Aland Etienne, a member of 32BJ SEIU, was among those killed, the labor union said.

Wesley LePatner, a senior managing director at Blackstone, which has offices in the building, was also killed, the company confirmed.

The Rudin family, which owns the building and Rudin Management, said in a statement that one of their employees was a victim of the shootings but did not disclose the person’s name at the request of relatives. The fourth victim, a woman, was found dead on the 33rd floor in Rudin's offices.

32BJ's president, Manny Pastreich, called Etienne "a New York hero."

“This tragedy speaks to the sacrifice of security officers who risk their lives every day to keep New Yorkers and our buildings safe," Pastreich said in a statement. "Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line. Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated."

Four persons were treated for minor injuries, Tisch said. 

Islam, a Bangladeshi immigrant, joined the NYPD in December 2021 and was assigned to the 47th Precinct in the Bronx, His wife is pregnant with the couple’s third child, the commissioner said. 

NYPD Officer Didarul Islam.

NYPD

“He was doing the job that we asked him to do. He put himself in harm's way. He made the ultimate sacrifice. Shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city,” Tisch said as she and the mayor addressed the media shortly before 10:30 p.m. at NewYork-Presbyterian, where Islam was taken after the shooting. 

Adams had earlier met Islam’s family. "Our hearts are heavy,” a somber and visibly shaken mayor said at the hospital Monday night. “He was doing what he does best and all members of the police department carry out,” the mayor said of Islam. 

The commissioner said multiple calls were received by the 911 call center starting at 6:28 p.m. reporting an active shooter at 345 Park Ave., between 51st and 52nd streets.

Tisch said surveillance footage showed Tamura double-park his black BMW in front of the building and get out carrying an M4 carbine, a weapon used by the U.S. military. 

He then entered the building’s lobby, turned right and immediately opened fire, hitting an NYPD officer, presumably Islam. He then shot a security guard and another man. Tamura then called an elevator and he let a woman exiting walk past him before he entered and rode to the 33rd floor. He walked the floor there, before shooting and killing the woman. He then turned the rifle on himself, shooting himself in the chest.

Tamura, a Las Vegas casino security worker, was carrying a handwritten note in his wallet that claimed he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known at CTE, investigators said. He accused the league of hiding the dangers of brain injuries linked to contact sports. He was targeting NFL offices in the building but took the wrong elevator, officials said Tuesday. He had played high school football.

Law enforcement officials located identification on Tamura’s body, including a concealed carry permit from Las Vegas, Tisch said. Police also found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition, cartridge magazines, a backpack and meds prescribed to Tamura, Tisch said. 

She said that Tamura had apparently driven cross-country, through Colorado on July 26, then Nebraska and Iowa on Sunday, before coming through New Jersey Monday.

“This is a devastating night for our city, for our police department,” the president of the Police Benevolent Association, Patrick Hendry, said at NewYork-Presbyterian. “Pure evil came to the heart of our city and struck innocent people. And one of our police officers who were protecting those people. We lost four people tonight. And our hero brother who gave his life for this city.” 

Hendry said Islam was a “hard-working” and “proud” officer. He said that the NYPD would work to find answers to the tragedy, 

“But now our job as police officers is to be there for this family, to support them in any way that we can, to come together as a city, to be there for these families of the victims,” Hendry said. 

richardk@thechiefleader.com

The Associated Press contributed to this story.