Sons of NYPD cop Didarul Islam idolized dad killed by Park Ave. shooter
The sons of the NYPD officer killed in the Park Avenue mass shooting idolized their dad, showing him off to classmates and even dressing up and 'walking firmly' like their idol.
Police Officer Didarul Islam's oldest son Ahyan decked himself out in NYPD blues while at his preschool in Bronxdale, a teacher who taught both boys in the Bronx recalled to The Post.
Advertisement
12 Didarul Islam and his son Azhaan, 5, at the boy's preschool in the Bronx for a Father's Day celebration in June.
'He said, 'I wear my police uniform just like my dad,'' said teacher Tajwattie Singh, of the boy, who's now 7.
'He looked just like a police officer and he behaved like one with his blue uniform and hat,' she said. 'He was walking firmly like a police officer.'
Advertisement
Islam, 36, came to her classroom hand-in-hand this past Father's Day with his youngest son Azhaan, 5.
12 Police Officer Didarul Islam was a regular at the Bronxdale preschool attended by both of his sons Azhaan, 5 and Ahyan, 7.
Obtained by the New York Post
'When they came in, he had the dad's hand and he said to the class, 'My dad is a police officer,'' beaming with pride.
'That's the first time I saw him in uniform,' Singh said of the father. 'Most of the time he works later. That's why usually he's not in his uniform.'
Advertisement
Islam was shot and killed Monday evening when maniac Shane Tamura, walked into the NFL headquarters building at East 51st Street and Park Avenue carrying an AR-15 and blasted Islam, who was working a side job providing security. Tamura fired 47 rounds, murdering four people and injuring one, before fatally turning the gun on himself.
12 Didarul Islam went to the preschool in uniform on Father's Day, thrilling his son, Azhaan, 5.
12 Both boys spoke proudly about their police officer father, who was shot to death by a maniac in a Park Avenue building Monday.
Obtained by the New York Post
Tamura, 27, who worked at the Horseshoe hotel and casino in Las Vegas, had no affiliation with the NFL but played football in high school and blamed the NFL for covering up chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma. It's not yet clear if Tamura had the disease.
Advertisement
When Singh was called early Tuesday morning with the news of Islam's death she was beside herself with grief.
Singh is still stunned that the young father's young life was snuffed out.
12 Islam had served with the New York City Police Department for three and a half years and worked in the 47 Precinct in the Bronx.
NYPD
12 Workers in the building barricaded themselves in rooms after realizing a gunman was firing inside their building.
'I just saw him,' said the 72-year-old teacher from Guyana. 'I can't believe that happened to him.'
The last time she saw Islam he was in his uniform dropping off Ahyan just before school ended in June.
'I told him 'You look so handsome in your uniform,'' she said. 'He would always say 'Good morning Ms. Singh.''
12 Shane Tamura was caught on surveillance casually carrying an automatic weapon across the office building's open plaza.
Obtained by NY Post
Advertisement
12 Tamura claimed to have the brain disease CTE in suicide notes cops found in his wallet.
Obtained by the NY Post
'The kids were so proud of him,' she recalled. 'They would always talk about their dad.'
She feels horrible for his widow, Jamila Akhter, who is 8-months pregnant with a third boy.
'She's going to be lost,' Singh said. 'The baby won't even know his dad.'
Advertisement
12 Mayor Adams speaks at Islam's funeral at a Bronx mosque on Thursday.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
12 The older son stands outside with his mom and other family members at the officer's funeral.
REUTERS
'He was so nice I wouldn't think we'd lose a person like that so early.
'The mother is very sweet and also always smiling,' she said. 'I'm so sorry.'
Advertisement
Chloe Pashman, education director at the preschool, who asked The Post not to identify the school, said the students, families and teachers consider each other family.
12 The shooting happened at around 6:30 p.m. at the building that houses investment giant Blackstone, the National Football League, accounting firm KPMG and the Rudin Management real estate firm.
William Miller
12 Teacher Tajwattie Singh (left) and Education Director Chloe Pashman, pictured at a past event, were shocked by Islam's death.
Obtained by the New York Post
'It's a very close-knit community,' she said. 'We call ourselves a family. It was very devastating, very shocking.'
Advertisement
The NYPD officers patrolling the neighborhood are also part of that family.
'The police officers in the neighborhood have always been so supportive of our school,' she said.
'When something like this happens, it affects the whole community, including the school community. We have to support our families and our officers.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Fundraiser to fulfill tragic security guard's ‘wish' for his kids after he's killed in NYC mass shooting
A fundraiser for the children of security guard gunned down in last week's mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan has topped $60,000 — as kin hailed him as 'a pillar of strength' for his family. Aland Etienne, 46, was among four people killed by gun-toting maniac Shane Tamura at 345 Park Ave. on July 28, leaving his family and school-aged kids without a provider, the gofundme site said. 'Aland was more than just a colleague or friend — he was light in every room, a pillar of strength for his family, and the kind of father every child dreams of,' the site said. 'He leaves behind two beautiful children who were his entire world. Advertisement 3 Aland Etienne, 46, was a doting dad and a beloved fixture at 345 Park Ave. before tragedy struck. Obtained by the NY Post 'His deepest wish was to give them the future they deserve.' Etienne was on duty when Tamura stormed in, killing him, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner and NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam, before taking the elevator to the 33rd floor. Advertisement There, he opened fire on cleaning woman Sebije Nelovic, who managed to duck into a closet, before he shot and killed 27-year-old Rudin Management associate Julia Hyman — then killed himself. 3 Tragic victims, clockwise from top left — Wesley LePatner, Aland Etienne, NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Julia Hyman. Blackstone; Facebook; Obtained; Linkedin 3 Shane Tamura, a deranged Las Vegas security guard, stormed into 345 Park Ave. with an AR-15 assault rifle July 28. Obtained by the NY Post Advertisement Etienne has a son who celebrated his 7th birthday just days after the tragedy, and an older daughter, According to sources. He was a beloved fixture at the Midtown skyscraper, the sources said. Shamura, a disgruntled Las Vegas security guard, was targeting NFL offices in the building over perceived CTE injuries from playing high school football — but went to the wrong floor. Funerals for the slain hero cop, a married 36-year-old father of two who had been on the force for four years; LePatner, the married mom of two; and Hyman, a Cornell graduate, were held last week.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lawrence Taylor, once arrested in Rockland on sex charge, now on Trump youth fitness panel
When President Donald Trump unveiled his executive order on Thursday, July 31, to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test for schoolkids, NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was at his side. Taylor has another record: he pleaded to a misdemeanor sex charge stemming from a 2010 Rockland County arrest. Taylor, named by Trump that day as a member of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, was accused of having sex with an underage girl in a Rockland County hotel. The girl was being sex trafficked, court records show. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute as part of a plea deal. The original charges, handed down by a Rockland County grand jury, included one count of third-degree rape, which could have brought up to four years in prison if he was convicted. How Rockland case exposed trafficking in the suburbs The case included a federal conviction for the man who sent the young girl to Taylor's room. The incident showed that sex trafficking, long considered an international crime, could happen in the suburbs. In 2010, a 16-year-old Bronx runaway reported she had been transported to a Rockland County hotel, then called the Holidome, just off Exit 14B of the New York State Thruway in Ramapo. She was sent by her trafficker to Taylor's room for the planned encounter. The girl later testified she went into the room tear-stained and bruised from her trafficker's brutality. Taylor, who is 6-foot-3 and around 240 pounds at the time, had said he believed the girl was 19. Taylor's arrest came after the girl had texted her uncle, who contacted police. Ramapo police arrested Taylor, who was visiting the area from Florida. The trafficker was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of enticing or facilitating interstate travel to engage in a commercial sex act. Level 1 sex offender registry in Florida Because he was considered a Level 1 offender, Taylor is not on the New York sex offender registry; he is, however, listed with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Sex offender ranking systems go from Level 3, considered at the highest risk of reoffending, to Level 1, for offenders exhibiting the lowest risk of a repeat offense. While Taylor is no longer under any form of confinement, supervision or any other court-imposed sanction in Florida, as of 2024, he was still required to register in accordance with Florida law. Taylor, nicknamed 'Godzilla' in his NFL days, in 2021 and again in 2024 reportedly failed to report a change of address as mandated by his sex offender status. 'I'm here to serve,' Taylor tells Trump For his part, Taylor, a Trump friend and supporter, expressed pride in, if not a bit of confusion about, his new role. 'I don't know why, I don't know what we are supposed to be doing, but I'm here to serve and I'm here to serve you,' Taylor said during Thursday's event. 'I'm going to do the best I can for as long as I can.' Trump responded: 'Nobody like him.' The two-time Super Bowl champion founded the Lawrence Taylor Family Foundation, which provides programs and services for underserved youth, 'leveling the playing field and tackling diversity, one play at a time.' Human trafficking in the suburbs The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported nearly 8,000 reports of sex trafficking in the U.S. in 2021. Victims of forced labor trafficking, in many cases, also are sex trafficked. Get help or report a tip at the National Human Trafficking Hotline, or 1-888-373-7888. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Lawrence Taylor on Trump youth fitness panel once in Rockland sex case
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Hero worker saved 8 from NYC mass shooting — by shoving them into a closet
He was a hero in a hail of bullets. A courageous greeter in the lobby at 345 Park Ave. saved eight lives by shoving people into a closet after they unwittingly stumbled into the scene of last week's mass shooting, The Post has learned. Andre Morris, 39, insists he only did what 'needed to be done' when crazed gunman Shane Tamura opened fire just as a group of workers got off an elevator at the Midtown high-rise last Monday. Advertisement 6 Lobby greeter Andre Morris saved 8 people from the horrific Midtown shooting on Park Avenue last week. Provided by Andre Morris He didn't think twice as he rushed the employees into a nearby closet where the group hunkered down in panicked silence — texting loved ones and bracing the door against the AR-15-wielding gunman outside. 'I just did my job,' Morris told The Post, adding. 'I'm not a hero. I am completely devastated by the tragic and senseless deaths.' Advertisement Morris has worked for building owner Rudin Management for ten years and as a lobby ambassador in the Park Avenue location for the past three. The mass shooting — the deadliest in New York City in a quarter century — claimed the lives of off-duty NYPD cop Didarul Islam, building security guard Aland Etienne, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner and Rudin Management staffer Julia Hyman. One other person was wounded. Tamura, the 27-year-old gunman, turned his rifle on himself, ending his reign of terror on the 33rd floor. 6 Tamura's massacre claimed the lives of 4 in the building. Obtained by the NY Post Advertisement 6 Morris has worked for building owner Rudin Management for ten years. Matthew McDermott Morris was getting water at his post when he heard between 10 and 15 gunshots, but couldn't locate the gunman. As he saw bullets ricochet and a puff of smoke, he dialed 911 and then radioed to warn other building staff. The heavily secured building is home to a slew of high-end clients, including investment management firm Blackstone and the NFL — the latter of which Tamura was targeting. Morris corralled the eight workers as they left the elevator and led them to a closet, where he turned off his radio so it wouldn't give away their hiding spot and directed everyone to swallow their terror and keep silent. Advertisement 6 Workers in Blackstone's Park Avenue building were seen barricading their office door during gunman Shane Tamura 's deadly rampage Morris and another person tried to firmly keep the door shut as the other refugees texted loved ones. When he heard cops on the scene, he opened the door and led the workers out while reminding them to keep their hands up as they were taken to safety. 'As lobby ambassador I know the people who come to work here every day, they become family,' he said. 6 The mass shooting was the deadliest in New York City in a quarter century. Obtained by NY Post 'Building management had provided training for all kinds of emergencies, you think they'll never happen. But when this happened, my training and instincts kicked in, I knew what needed to be done and gathered as many people as I could.' Two women who worked at Blackstone and were rescued by Morris described how they first saw the slain security guard dead on the ground and heard a commotion while waiting to be rescued in the closet. One of the workers, who did not want to be named, recalled how she and several others where in the lobby when she she heard gunfire. Advertisement 'We had just stepped down [off elevator] and we saw the turnstiles broken,' the first worker said. 'We walked one elevator bank and we saw the security guard alone, dead in the floor, and that's when we realized something was going on. 'We sought shelter. Everything is just kind of hazy.' The other worker said there were eight people, including a few other Blackstone workers, crammed into a tiny 'security closet type of space.' 6 Employees squeezed into a closet in the building to shelter from the barrage of bullets. AP Advertisement 'While in there we heard footsteps, yelling, gunshots,' the second worker recalled. 'The SWAT team evacuated us because we were like in the middle of everything happening, so I think they wanted to make sure that we weren't shooters, so we had to raise our hands above our heads.' The two women stopped by the building Friday morning to pay respects to the victims as they and countless others continue to grieve. Morris is particularly grieving for Etienne, the brave security guard, whom he called a 'dear friend.' Advertisement A Rudin Management security source commended Morris for his quick thinking and bravely following security training amid the chaos. 'We are tremendously grateful to Andre,' the source said. 'In addition to showing hospitality, the lobby ambassadors are an instrumental part of our security force.'
