Detective Didarul Islam on the first death anniversary
Minara Helen: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch paid tribute in the Bronx on Tuesday to the life of Detective Didarul Islam on the first anniversary of his murder in last summer’s Midtown mass shooting.
At less than one year of age, Islam’s son cried out as his granddaughter walked him by a photograph of the fallen cop. Although the tot could not yet fully grasp the measure of his loss, it was clear he joined his family’s sorrow outside the 47th Precinct’s stationhouse.
The still-mourning family gathered with Mamdani and Tisch, and members of the 47th Precinct, on July 28 to mark a year since Islam and three other New Yorkers were slain in the 2025 gun violence that happened at 345 Park Ave. in Midtown. The beloved cop lost his life when 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura entered the skyscraper and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing four before turning the gun on himself in one of the Big Apple’s most deadly mass shootings. Islam was working as security for the building in uniform as part of the NYPD’s paid detail program.
Three other people were killed in the massacre: Aland Etienne, another security guard at the Park Avenue building; Julia Hyman, an associate at Rudin Management; and Wesley LePatner, an executive at Blackstone. According to those who knew him, the 3 1/2-year NYPD veteran had taken on the extra security detail on his time off to help support his family.
“It was technically his day off after a long and demanding week as an officer for the NYPD. At home, he was busy raising two young children. His wife, Jamila, was pregnant with their third. But for Detective Islam, taking on extra work to protect his fellow New Yorkers was not a burden, it was a way of life. He regularly volunteered to work special details, overtime, and off-duty gigs, so that he could provide not only for his family here in Parkchester, but his relatives in Bangladesh,” Mayor Mamdaini said. Honoring their fallen friend and colleague, officers from the 47th Precinct lined up beside a photograph of Islam as his family members watched wreaths laid at the foot of the photo. Tisch remembered Islam as a professional who was loved by his peers.
“Those memories are now part of the history of this command, where future officers will learn the name of Detective First Grade Didarul Islam and will understand the service behind that name,” the top said. “He will always be one of the 47 Precinct, and his name will forever belong to the department he served with honor.”
His wife, grandfather, and his young children all stood in somber remembrance of a man they lost too soon. His brother-in-law, Police Officer Kamrul Hasan, told the gathering that he wished he could turn back time.
“I often wish I could go back in time just once to say goodbye to my brother, but we all know it’s not gonna happen. Over the past year, every family gathering has felt incomplete. There is always an empty place that no one can replace. We miss him every single day, Hasan said. ‘Nothing can replace that loss.’
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