While His Enemies Talk About Old Tweets, Mamdani Visits the Family of Slain NYPD Officer

The first thing Zohran Mamdani did upon returning to New York City Wednesday morning from his 10-day trip to Uganda was visit with the family of slain NYPD Officer Didarul Islam in their Bronx home.

"We spent close to an hour together," Mamdani told a packed room of reporters on Wednesday afternoon. "There are moments that stayed with me, moments like when Officer Islam's sisters asked me, 'Who will we call bhaiya now?'" Mamdani said, using a Bangla word for older brother.

Officer Islam was among the four people shot and killed in a Midtown office building on Monday night. In the days since the shooting, Mamdani's foundering political rivals and the reactionary media ecosystem seized on his absence and his years-old social media posts to suggest that the candidate who won a commanding victory in the Democratic primary was not up to—or worthy of—the task that was now required of the next mayor of New York City: grieving with the loved ones of a cop who was killed on the job, supporting the 35,000 uniformed officers of the NYPD, and assuring New Yorkers he would keep them safe.

Politico's headline—"Mass shooting becomes Mamdani’s first test as mayoral  nominee"—was representative. The reporters were all in the room to answer the question: Is he gonna pass?

The press conference was held at the headquarters of 32BJ SEIU, the union that represented building security guard Aland Etienne, who was also among those killed, along with Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner and Rudin Management associate Julia Hyman. Mamdani was joined by retired NYPD Lieutenant Shamsul Haque, who is also the co-founder of the Bangladeshi American Police Association, as well as 32BJ president Manny Pastreich, and members of Etienne's family, including his younger brother, Smith.

Haque thanked Mamdani for visiting Islam's family, said that he and Islam shared similar customs, and that his death leaves a hole in the Bangladeshi American community. "After 9/11, several dozen of us joined the NYPD to do things: One was to protect the city we call our home, but also to dispel the misconception that if you're Muslim, there's somehow a connection to terrorism," Haque said.