Deadliest NYC shooting in decades takes center stage in mayoral race as candidates spar on public safety
The four candidates running to be the next mayor of New York City are reacting to the worst mass shooting in the city in a quarter-century as public safety and crime continue to be one of the most prevalent issues in the race.
"Officer Didarul Islam was one of four people killed in yesterday’s horrific shooting," Mamdani posted on X on Tuesday, a day after four people, including NYPD officer Islam, were gunned down by a Nevada man inside a high-rise office building on Park Avenue before the shooter took his own life in a crime that sent shockwaves though the city.
"A Bangladeshi immigrant who joined the NYPD four years ago, he lived in Parkchester with his pregnant wife, their two young children, and his elderly parents."
Mamdani’s post continued, "When he joined the police department, his mother asked him why he would pursue such a dangerous job. He told her it was to leave behind a legacy that his family could be proud of. He has done that, and more.
"I pray for him, his family, and honor the legacy of service and sacrifice he leaves behind."
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Mamdani’s post faced backlash from some online who accused the mayoral candidate of giving lip service to the police given his previous calls to defund the police and a post where he said "nature is healing" in response to someone who said they saw a police officer crying in his car.
Some also pointed to Mamdani’s previous pledge to disband the New York Police Department’s Strategic Response Group (SRG) which was a unit that responded to the midtown shooting.
"Come on, @ZohranKMamdani," Republican New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov posted on X. "Spare us the BS."
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for an interview but did not receive a response.
During a Wednesday press conference, Mamdani offered comfort to the families of all the victims and attempted to distance himself from his previous calls to defund the police, saying that his "statements in 2020" were made out of "frustration" regarding the death of George Floyd.
"To the families of Aland and Officer Islam and to security guards and police officers across the city," Mamdani said. "I want to thank them for the work that they do each and every day."
The 33-year-old democratic socialist returned to New York City on Wednesday from his wedding celebration in Uganda and immediately visited the home of the fallen NYPD officer, Didarul Islam, and then held a press conference with Islam's brother at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) headquarters in Manhattan.
Mamdani continued, "Looking at the crisis of retention that we have in the city today, to try and pin it upon tweets from five years ago, as opposed to the conditions of this moment, is to ignore what officers themselves are saying."
"When you ask officers why they leave, one of the leading causes they cite is forced overtime, an inability to have a quality of life when they know they are actually going to come home. These are the kinds of things that we have to address to ensure that not only can we keep the officers we have on the job, but that we can also deliver on public safety," Mamdani said.
Incumbent mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer, is campaigning for re-election as an Independent.
In his official capacity as mayor, Adams was quick to the scene Monday evening, posting social media updates and holding news conferences to relay the latest information on the tragic incident to New Yorkers.
Since the shooting, Adams has attended the dignified transfer of Islam, and a multi-faith prayer vigil to honor the four victims.
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"We must continue to stand together every day to fight back against and prevent the senseless gun violence in our country," Adams shared on X.
Adams revealed to Fox News' Martha MacCallum on "The Story" on Tuesday that the New York City gunman acquired part of his rifle from an associate.
"The lower part [of the rifle] we are finding out was purchased by an associate," Adams said.
The New York City mayor said there is a "mental health aspect" to Monday's shooting, and "we have to ensure that our laws are stronger."
"Our laws must be clearer on identifying those with mental health issues," Adams said.
Adams, who was unavailable for an interview before publication, clarified that "this incident did not unfold because of the lack of police personnel, it unfolded because a very dangerous person decided he was going to take the life of anyone he came in contact with."
But Curtis Sliwa, the two-time Republican nominee for New York City mayor, told Fox News Digital that he believes understaffing played a role in the tragedy.
"My initial reaction is exactly the reaction that I had when, a year ago, we saw Luigi Mangione gun down that health care executive right in the midtown area as he waited for him at a nearby Starbucks across from the Hilton," Sliwa told Fox News Digital.
"The police were not patrolling the area. It used to be in areas like that of high traffic. Tourists and business people in Fortune 500 companies would have a foot patrol in a sector. They've eliminated that because we just don't have enough police."
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Sliwa dismissed calls for more gun control in the wake of the shooting and said instead what the city "desperately" needs is more police officers on the streets.
"We're down to 31,000 cops," Sliwa said. "We need to get them up to 40,000. And I'm the only candidate who is saying we need to hire immediately 7,000 trained professional police officers to be visible in the streets of New York."
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running for mayor as an Independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic Primary, spoke to Fox News Digital by phone and criticized Mamdani's record on policing, including his previous call to disband the SRG.
"He said just a few months ago, he would disband the Strategic Response Group, which was the group that responds to first attacks and responded to this Park Avenue situation, and he's been very consistent, he said in the campaign ‘defund the police,’" Cuomo said.
"He goes the next step, dismantle the police, right? But he has said the NYPD are racists, the police are a threat to public safety. So I have said that I think he's dangerous because he doesn't understand the need for public safety in this city."
Cuomo told Fox News Digital that the shooting has the potential to shake up the mayoral race.
"Yes, it does, because New Yorkers have PTSD from 9/11 and from other horrific situations, and I think it's always in the back of every New Yorker's mind that all it takes is one mentally ill person with an assault weapon and that's TNT," Cuomo explained.
"That is a public safety stick of dynamite and, yeah, I think it brought that back. It's sort of back to reality, right? New York City, you're a target. You are a target, you're an international target for terrorists. You are the big stage for people who want to make a statement."