An off-duty New York police officer as well as a high-ranking real estate executive were among those killed on Monday evening during a shooting at a Manhattan high-rise building that left four victims dead and one other seriously injured, according to officials.
The New York police department (NYPD) officer Didarul Islam, 36, who was assigned to a Bronx precinct and had been on the job for three and a half years, was off duty when the attack began.
The immigrant from Bangladesh was also a father of two children – with a third on the way – when he died “protecting New Yorkers”, the city’s mayor, Eric Adams, said.
“He was doing what he does best and all members of the police department carry out,” Adams said during a late Monday press conference. “He was saving lives.”
The police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, also praised Islam’s bravery, saying: “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.
“He was a hero.”
The NYPD also released a statement saying Islam “represented the very best of our department”. The statement said Islam’s death resulted in “incomprehensible pain” and pledged to “forever honor his legacy”.
Meanwhile, Monday’s shooting also killed Wesley LePatner, a high-ranking Blackstone executive. LePatner led the firm’s Core+ real estate division. And she was chief executive officer of the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT).
She joined Blackstone in 2014 after more than 10 years at Goldman Sachs.
“We are heartbroken,” Blackstone said about LePatner in a statement to multiple news outlets. “Words cannot express the devastation we feel.”
Blackstone’s statement said LePatner would “be sorely missed”, having been “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within [the] firm and beyond”.
“She embodied the best of Blackstone,” the statement continued.
LePatner, a Yale graduate and trustee of the Met Museum in New York, was an executive at Goldman Sachs before joining Blackstone in 2014. She spoke to Business Insider in 2022 about her work at Blackstone.
“Core+ was, for all intents and purposes, a startup.” LePatner said to the outlet at the time. “I faced all the challenges one could imagine when building a multibillion-dollar business – from hiring to ensuring standards remain high, moving quickly to keep up with growth, and staying ahead of market swings and growing pains.”
A third victim was identified Tuesday as Julia Hyman, according to the New York Post. Hyman was killed on the 33rd floor of the office tower, where she worked for Rudin Management as an associate, reports the Post. She graduated from Cornell in 2020.
Islam and LePatner were shot in the lobby of the building. The fourth victim is believed to be a security guard for the building who was also in the lobby and has not yet been named.
Another person was gravely injured and remains hospitalized.
Monday’s shooting occurred at about 6.30pm inside 345 Park Avenue, a commercial tower that houses, among others, the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL). Police said the gunman, identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura from Las Vegas, carried out the attack alone and died from a self-inflicted gunshot on the building’s 33rd floor.
The NFL’s offices are lower than the one where the gunman died.
The league later confirmed that one of its employees was among the wounded.
The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, sent a statement to staff saying the wounded league employee was “in stable condition” at the hospital.
“NFL staff are at the hospital and we are supporting his family,” Goodell wrote in the memo, which was obtained by ESPN.
Goodell also said there would be “increased security presence” at offices “in the days and weeks to come”. He said staff based in New York should work remotely on Tuesday or would be given the option to take the day off.
Mayor Adams said on Tuesday morning that the shooter was probably trying to target the headquarters of the NFL but accidentally took the wrong elevator.
A note found at the scene in the wallet of the shooter – who played high school football – made claims that he suffered from CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is a brain disease linked to repeated head trauma, often seen in athletes such as football players and boxers.
One page of the note reportedly found in the shooter’s pocket accused the NFL of concealing the true scope of danger posed to football players’ brains to maximize profits, sources told ABC News.
Another page mentioned CTE and blamed the sport. A third page reportedly said, “Study my brain please. I’m sorry.”
