The Monday night Midtown mass shooting that left five people dead, including an NYPD officer and the suspected gunman, drew immediate condolences from the leading general election mayoral candidates and has the potential to shake up a race that has already been a rollercoaster ride.
As the sitting mayor, former NYPD captain Eric Adams jumped into action on Monday night, appearing at the scene of the shooting inside an office building at 345 Park Ave.
Police say a lone gunman, whom they identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamiea, walked into the building on the night of July 28 and killed four people with an M-4 assault rifle, before turning the gun on himself. One of the victims was an off-duty NYPD officer, 36-year-old Didarul Islam, who was killed while on an off-duty security detail.
“We lost four souls in another senseless act of gun violence, including a member of the New York City Police Department, Officer Islam,” Adams said on Monday night. “He was just 36 years old. He was doing what he does best, and all members of the police department carry out, he was saving lives. He was protecting New Yorkers.”
Adams, who is running a longshot bid for reelection as an independent, has focused on public safety — including combating gun violence — as one of his core issues since he first ran for mayor in 2021. The shooting came just two days after Adams touted that the NYPD had removed 3,000 illegal guns from city streets since the start of this year.
However, the gunman, a Nevada resident, is suspected to have brought the weapons with him after driving to New York City from Las Vegas. During a Tuesday morning interview on Pix11, Adams said Tamiea “appeared to have” obtained his weapons legally with a concealed carry permit.
“This is what makes our challenge so difficult when you have suspects bringing guns into our city,” Adams said. ” Dealing with those who come from areas with lax gun laws that allow individuals to have these high powered weapons and enter cities like New York that have strong gun laws.”
Will shooting impact the mayor’s race?
The incident could give Adams a chance to once again center public safety in a race mostly about affordability — the issue that Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani focused on in his successful primary campaign.
Former state Democratic Party Chair Basil Smikle said he believes Adams could lean into the shooting to highlight the importance of supporting the NYPD.
“It’s sort of a reminder to voters of one of the big reasons he was elected in 2021,” Smikle said. “Because he is the current mayor, he will have a lot of opportunities to speak on this. There’s gonna be a funeral, and he’ll be there at the funeral. He’ll speak. He’ll be with his police commissioner talking about how to make the city safer and about the ongoing investigation.”
Mamdani, who is currently celebrating his recent wedding with his family in his home country of Uganda, released two statements via social media sharing his condolences for the slain officer and the other three victims who were killed. Like Mamdani, Islam was a South Asian Muslim immigrant.
“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 wrote of Islam. “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 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.”
The shooting could put Mamdani, who once stood for defunding the police, but has since moderated on that position, in a challenging position as he vies against a crowded general election field to clinch the mayoralty in November. Mamdani is currently the frontrunner in a race that includes Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who is also running on an independent line after losing the Democratic primary, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and independent Jim Walden.
But Smikle said he believes Mamdani could speak to the cultural commonalities between himself and Islam.
“I think Mamdani can talk about himself as part of that immigrant community that makes sacrifices for the betterment of the city,” Smikle said. “Not to necessarily cast himself in the same light as someone who has a badge and puts themselves in danger in the same way, but just to remind the voters that immigrant communities are the lifeblood of the city.”
Meanwhile, Cuomo and Walden both expressed similar sentiments to Mamdani, honoring the victims who died, particularly Islam.
“Officer Didarul Islam’s courage was as boundless as his love for this city,” Cuomo said in a post on X. “He gave his life protecting New Yorkers. A hero. We honor his sacrifice and the quiet bravery of every NYPD officer who stands the watch so we can live free.”
Like Adams, the incident could provide an opening for Cuomo to hammer home his argument that the city is unsafe and needs an experienced manager like himself to lead it at this moment.
However, Lupe Todd-Medina, a veteran political strategist who worked on City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ failed mayoral campaign in the primary, said she does not believe the shooting will affect the race.
“I can’t see how somebody who came all the way from Las Vegas to come here to do that unspeakable [act] would impact this race, not in any meaningful way,” Todd-Medina said. “I think that any campaign that attempts to do that is is reaching. It is really taking kind of a an unfortunate incident that happened in the city, which killed an NYPD officer, and using it in a very unfashionable and inadvisable way.”
