Several hours after a gunman started shooting inside a high-rise office building in New York City on Monday, the revelation that an NYPD officer was among the victims shocked law enforcement families nationwide.
Didarul Islam, 36, an immigrant from Bangladesh, was on duty as a paid detail providing security to the office building—a typical method for uniformed NYPD officers to earn overtime pay.
“This officer was merely trying to earn a few extra dollars to cover his expenses,” NYPD Sgt. Joe Imperatrice, co-founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC, expressed to Fox News Digital. “It’s even more heartbreaking as he was killed by a person who was utterly deranged, especially since he didn’t have to be there.”
Exhibiting solidarity, Tisch stood with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and PBA President Patrick Hendry to extend the department’s sympathies to Islam’s family.
“He died as he lived,” Tisch said. “A hero.”
Following Islam’s tragic murder, Imperatrice argues that such a loss reopens old scars for law enforcement members everywhere, particularly a year after NYPD officer Jonathan Diller was shot and killed on duty.
“You pray fervently to every divine entity that such a call never comes,” Imperatrice remarked. “Yet again, the sea of blue is set to appear nationwide. It will send a jolt through everyone’s emotions and remind them of life’s preciousness and the potential for evil.”
Police officers gather in a street as they respond to a shooting incident in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York on July 28, 2025 in New York City. Four people are dead after being shot during an active shooter incident in midtown Manhattan, including a police officer. (Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Islam is one of four victims gunned down by the shooter, with authorities identifying security officer Aland Etienne, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner and an unnamed Rudin employee among the deceased.
However, Imperatrice stresses that Islam will be memorialized as a hero by the NYPD and his loved ones will always have the backing of the department.
“[Islam’s] name is going to be put on so many different walls, so he’s basically immortal,” Imperatrice said. “But the family just gained over 30,000 officers that are going to be their new family – brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles – and they’re going to be by their side, at their beck and call, through their hardest times during the first couple of days and weeks until the end of time.”
