NYPD Officer Killed in Mass Shooting Remembered for His 'Quiet Dignity'

By Thomas Tracy and Colin Mixson

Source New York Daily News

NEW YORK — NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, the police officer gunned down in a Midtown Manhattan mass shooting inside a Park Ave. office building, was posthumously promoted to detective first grade during his funeral Thursday as a sea of mourners, most of them police, gathered outside to pay their respects.

An estimated 15,000 people were on hand as a light rain from Thursday’s upcoming storm fell on white-gloved hands in salute as his coffin was carried out of the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque in the Bronx.

Islam, a father of two with a baby on the way, was one of 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.”

His widow, Jamila Akhter, said Officer Islam “was our world,” in remarks she wrote that were read by her cousin Zamila Fahmila at the service.

“I find comfort knowing his sacrifice saved others who were in that lobby,” she wrote.

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,” Adams said. “We must live in the spirit of Officer Islam and what he stood for.”

Islam, who was a Bangladeshi immigrant, had been a cop since 2021. He was in uniform working a paid security detail, which had been authorized by the New York Police Department, in the E. 51st St. building 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 a fleeing cleaner, 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, officials said.

Islam was a school safety agent before joining the NYPD, following a relative into the service.

During his career, he went about his job with a “quiet dignity” that many of his colleagues and supervisors learned to appreciate, Tisch said.

“He was not loud. Not showy,” she said. “On Sunday he worked overtime at the Dominican Day Parade. Then on Monday he picked up work at 345 Park Ave. to bring home a little more to his family. Everything about him was building something for his family, his mosque, his adopted city and his family back in Bangladesh. He knew real meaning is found not in what we take from this world, but what we give back.”

Islam was a calming presence at the 47th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx and usually ended a conversation with a big smile and “Appreciate you!” before going onto his next task, his commanding officer Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf said.

“Didarul showed us what quiet strength looks like,” Ashraf said. “He was humble, steady and reliable. He was the kind of officer you wanted by your side. Someone who brought calmness to any chaotic scene.”

Islam’s neighbors watched the never-ending line of blue uniforms flow down Virginia Ave. as NYPD helicopters passed overhead in a final salute to the fallen cop.

The mosque was just a few blocks from Islam’s home. Longtime neighbor Tito Colon recalled seeing the young police officer coming home from work in the evenings with a massive bookbag slung over his shoulder.

When Islam graduated the Police Academy, his family threw him a huge party, Colon remembered.

“They celebrated at the house,” he recalled. “They’re always throwing big parties. They celebrated when the first one was born. They celebrated when the second one was born. Now the third one…no celebration.”

When Colon and his father learned about Islam’s death, his father broke down crying, the neighbor said.

“He knew him, too,” Colon said solemnly, remembering the officer’s kind smile.

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 the overflow crowd at the mosque as he prayed for Officer Islam. “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.”

________

©2025 New York Daily News.

Visit nydailynews.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.