He came to New York City as an immigrant from Bangladesh and worked his way up the nation’s largest police force.
Didarul Islam had worked as a school safety agent before becoming a patrol officer less than four years ago. But on Monday, that promising career was cut short.
While working a uniformed security assignment, Islam was killed in a midtown Manhattan skyscraper by a gunman targeting the NFL, whose headquarters are in the Park Avenue tower.
The 36-year-old Bronx officer was the first of four people killed in the attack, including a security guard, real estate firm employee and investment firm executive.
“Officer Islam’s death was yet another reminder of everything you risk just by showing up to work,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday. “He knew that risk. He embraced it. He understood what it meant to put the safety of others above his own.”
Blackstone, one of the world’s largest investment firms, confirmed that Wesley LePatner, a senior managing director specializing in real estate, was among those fatally shot.
Security officer Aland Etienne was also killed, his labor union said.
The Rudin family, which owns the building and Rudin Management, said in a statement that one of their employees was a victim of the shootings but did not disclose the person’s name at the request of relatives. Police officials said a woman was found dead on the building's 33rd floor in Rudin's offices.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a memo to staff that an employee at the league's headquarters was seriously wounded but in stable condition at a hospital. He did not name the person. All other league workers were safe, Goodell said.
Mayor Eric Adams said police found a note suggesting the shooter, Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas, was convinced he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions in contact sports but can't be diagnosed until death. He had played high school football in California about a decade ago.
Islam’s flag-draped body was solemnly escorted to a Bronx mosque Tuesday in preparation for his burial. Hundreds of his colleagues lined the street.
Mourners recalled his work ethic and deep faith and generosity in the Muslim community.
Islam was married with two young sons and a third child on the way. He had been a New York City police officer for 3 1/2 years and worked out of a Bronx precinct.
Well-wishers visiting Islam’s home brought food for relatives gathered inside. Across the street, a public school where one or more of Islam’s children attended displayed a poster praising him as a loving parent and NYPD hero.
“He was a very friendly guy and a hardworking guy,” said Tanjim Talukdar, who remembered Islam from Friday prayers at the mosque. “Whenever I see him or he sees me he says, ‘How are you, my brother?’”
Sgt. Mohammad Islam, who is not related, said he saw himself in his fallen comrade, as a fellow father and an immigrant from Bangladesh. Both, he said, achieved the American dream by entering public service.
Aland Etienne, an unarmed building guard, was shot as he manned the lobby security desk where he kept watch over the elevator bank to the upper floors.
His brother said the family was reeling from the shocking loss.
“He was more than a brother—he was a father, a son, and a light in our lives,” Gathmand Etienne wrote on Facebook. “Our hearts are shattered, and we’re asking for your prayers and strength as we navigate this painful time.”
The president of the union representing security officers hailed Etienne as a “New York hero” whose untimely death was a grim reminder of the sacrifice and risk his job entailed.
Etienne had been a licensed unarmed security guard since 2017 and had worked at the building since 2019, with a prior stint in 2017, according to the union.
“Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line,” said Manny Pastreich, president of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union. “Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated.”
LePatner, 43, was Blackstone’s global head of core plus real estate and chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, the firm said. She joined the company in 2014 after working for more than a decade at Goldman Sachs, where she also handled real estate.
She graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in history and served on the boards of several organizations, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the firm said. A company statement said executives and other employees were devastated by her death and described her as “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous and deeply respected.”
LePatner’s family said their hearts were broken and asked that their privacy be respected as they mourn. They also offered condolences to other families who lost loved ones in the shooting.
“We cannot properly express the grief we feel upon the sudden and tragic loss of Wesley,” they said in a statement. “She was the most loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and relative, who enriched our lives in every way imaginable.”
Author Bruce Feiler said in a Facebook post that he was shocked, saddened and furious over LePatner's death. He said they served together on a board at Yale.
“At 43, she was the most effortless and impressive person — you wanted to follow her wherever she went,” he wrote. “A mentor to young women and generous friend to everyone who knew her, she was on the board of her children’s Jewish day school, recently joined the board of The Met, and just felt in every way like the kind of leader we all want and need in these unsettling times.”
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Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio, David Martin and Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.
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This story was updated to correct that Tamura played high school football about a decade ago, not two decades ago.
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