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A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC. Gothamist Listen Live Donate News 'I miss my father so much': Slain NYPD officer's family marks year without him By Charles Lane Published Jul 28, 2026 at 3:22 p.m. ET
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The NYPD detective killed in last year's Midtown mass shooting was remembered Tuesday as a man who picked up extra shifts on his days off, raised thousands of dollars for his cousin's mosque in Parkchester and took his brother-in-law to get his learner's permit.
"That was the kind of man Detective Islam was: generous, steady, humble, kind, compassionate and hardworking," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
Detective Didarul Islam, 36, was killed in the lobby of 345 Park Ave. on July 28, 2025, exactly a year before Tuesday's wreath-laying ceremony at the 47th Precinct stationhouse in the North Bronx, where he served. A gunman with a rifle killed Islam and three other people before killing himself, in what Mamdani called the worst mass shooting the city had seen in 25 years.
Islam's death became a flashpoint in last year's mayoral race. Then-Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo seized on the killing to attack Mamdani's past criticism of the NYPD and his proposal to disband the department's Strategic Response Group. But Islam's family embraced Mamdani, and invited the then-candidate, also a South Asian Muslim, to sit beside them at the funeral . Mamdani went on to win the election, and on Tuesday he stood before Islam's colleagues as their mayor.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the precinct still feels Islam’s loss.
"For his family and for the officers who knew him here at the 47, the weight of his absence has endured," Tisch said. Officers at the command "will remember the way that he approached the job and the presence that he brought into that building," she said.
Tisch also announced that the precinct's commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, will be promoted to inspector on Friday in recognition of the command's work in the year since the shooting.
Ashraf, who came to the United States as an immigrant himself, said Islam's path as a Bangladeshi immigrant was a familiar one.
"Like so many immigrants, he believed in the promise of America, and that through hard work, sacrifice and faith, he could build a better future for his family, and he did," Ashraf said. "He became a New York City police officer, a protector and a role model."
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said the union pushed for the Didarul Islam Recruitment Act, which was signed into law on May 27 and lets school safety agents carry their service time with them to the NYPD. Islam, a former school safety agent, had not been able to do that, Hendry said.
Islam's brother-in-law, Officer Kamrul Hasan, said every family gathering since has felt incomplete. Islam's third son, Arham, was born about three weeks after the shooting.
"I often wish I could go back in time for just once to say goodbye to my brother, but we all know it's not going to happen," Hasan said.
He said he still asks Islam's oldest son whether he misses his father.
"His answer is always, 'Yes, I miss my father so much,'" Hasan said.
Charles is a Day-of reporter focused on breaking news and enterprise. He’s very friendly and can be reached at [email protected] , or more securely on whatsapp/signal 631-295-6715
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