Didarul Islam’s Relative Says Police Officer’s Dad Had Stroke After Learning of Son’s Death in Mass Shooting

The father of Didarul Islam, the off-duty New York City police officer shot and killed in a mass shooting on Monday, July 28, suffered a stroke after learning of his son’s death, a relative told multiple outlets.

Muhammad Mainul Islam, Islam’s cousin and an Imam, spoke to a group of reporters, including The New York Post and CBS New York, about the heartbreaking response Didarul’s dad had after learning his son was dead. 

“They are very sad, upset,” Mainul Islam said on Tuesday, July 29, one day after Shane Devon Tamura shot and killed four people at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan, a high-rise office building where the headquarters of Blackstone and the NFL are located, before turning the gun on himself. Islam was off duty at the time of the shooting and was working security.

“When he heard the message … he had a stroke,” Mainul Islam continued. 

The other victims are 43-year-old Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner; 46-year-old security officer Aland Etienne; and 27-year-old Julia Hyman, who worked for Rudin Management.

Islam was a 36-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh and a 3 ½-year veteran with the NYPD, Mayor Eric Adams said during a press briefing on Monday, July 28.  

The officer, who lived in the Bronx with his wife, was also a father of two. The couple were expecting their third baby. 

At the time of the interview, ​​Mainul Islam told reporters the hospital had not yet released Islam’s father. He said his cousin’s sons were 8 and 4 years old, and that the third child is due next month. 

“Good guy, always. His behavior is very good,” Mainul Islam said of Islam, later becoming visibly emotional while speaking with the reporters who gathered in his neighborhood. 

“Forgive me, I miss him,” he said, adding that he was also “very upset” to learn his cousin had been killed.

According to Mainul Islam, Islam’s wife is “always crying.”

Around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Islam received a dignified transfer as his body was taken from the medical examiner’s office to a mosque in the Bronx, CBS New York reports.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul paid her respects to the fallen officer via social media, referring to him as someone who “represented the very best of New York” in a post to X.

“Tonight we mourn four New Yorkers, including one of New York’s Finest, taken in an act of senseless violence,” she said in another post. “Our hearts are with their loved ones and everyone affected by this tragedy, and we honor the first responders who bravely ran toward danger.”

Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas, was a former football player who had a “documented mental health history,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said during a press conference.

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Law enforcement officials confirmed to PEOPLE that he had a suicide note on his body claiming that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). He also named the National Football League (NFL), whose offices reside in that building, in the note. 

“He, from our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said of why Tamura carried out his attack in the office building.