Mayor (01:08):
This never, never gets easy. I always go back to the beginning of my role as mayor and Harlem Hospital, where Officer Mora and Rivera were assassinated. I remember watching their family members enter the hospital and a loud yell of, "No, God, please tell me it's not true."
(01:38)
And I thought about that today when the notification came over from the police commissioner that we had a number of shots fired and we're still unraveling what took place. And our hearts are heavy. Five innocent people shot tonight. We lost four souls to another senseless act of gun violence, including a member of the New York City Police Department, Officer Islam. He served in the 47th Precinct. He was just 36 years old and a three and a half year veteran of the department. He was doing what he does best and all members of the police department carry out. He was saving lives. He was protecting New Yorkers.
(02:38)
He's an immigrant from Bangladesh and he loved this city and everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God and believe in living out the life of a godly person. He embodies what this city is all about. He's a true blue New Yorker, not only in a uniform he wore, but in his spirit and energy of loving this city. And early tonight I met with the officer's family. I told them that he was a hero and we admire him for putting his life on the line. This was his dad only son. I think about Jordan, my child, and it's unimaginable to experience a loss of this magnitude. And three other innocent civilians are also dead, two males and one female, and another male is seriously injured, fighting for his life in critical condition because of the violent, despicable attack.
(03:54)
Additionally, the shooter is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. To be clear, six total tonight died, one including the perpetrator. And I'm sorry, six total was shot tonight, one including the perpetrator. No words can describe this act of evil. A man who takes a life of others who are innocent and no words can fill the void that has been left by this tragedy. Our hearts break for the families and friends of the victims, and we pray for the swift and safe recovery of the injured.
(04:40)
The horrific crime reminds us all how easy it is to gain access to a gun. Gun violence has scarred so many neighbors and ripped apart too many families across this entire country. And we will continue to fight to do all we can to protect our city. But tonight, we mourn for those who were killed and we pray for the families as they go through this painful moment. And as I stated, five innocent people were shot and the perpetrator was shot. We will continue to do what we do as a city and let's fight to protect innocent New Yorkers.
(05:27)
At this time, I'm going to turn it over to the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, Commissioner Tisch.
Commissioner Tisch (05:37):
Thank you, sir. The information that I'm about to provide is preliminary and subject to change. At 6:28 PM, the 911 call center started receiving multiple 911 calls for an active shooter inside of 345 Park Avenue at 52nd Street in Manhattan. What happened next is under an active investigation and details are still coming in, but here's what we know so far.
(06:06)
Surveillance video shows a male exit a double-parked black BMW on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets, carrying an M4 rifle in his right hand. He walks towards the building's entrance. That individual was seen exiting the BMW alone. The building's security camera footage shows the shooter enter the lobby, turn right, and immediately opened fire on an NYPD officer. He then shoots a woman who took cover behind a pillar and proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire. He makes his way to the elevator bank where he shoots a security guard who was taking cover behind the security desk. One additional male is shot in the lobby per his own statement from the hospital.
(06:58)
The shooter then calls the elevator, which opens in the lobby. A female exits that elevator and he allows her to walk past him unharmed. He goes up to the 33rd floor, which is Rudin Management, and begins to walk the floor, firing rounds as he traveled. One person was struck and killed on that floor. He then proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest.
(07:25)
In total, we have five victims shot, our officer and four other innocent civilians, plus the shooter. The shooter is believed to be Shane Tamura, a 27-seven-year-old male with a Las Vegas address. The vehicle he exited is registered in Nevada to Mr. Tamura. Inside of that vehicle, officers found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition and magazines, a backpack, and medication prescribed to Mr. Tamura. The vehicle was searched by our bomb squad and found to be clear of any explosives.
(08:04)
The initial investigation shows that Mr. Tamura's vehicle traveled across country through Colorado on July 26th, then Nebraska and Iowa on July 27th, and then in Columbia, New Jersey, as recently as 4:24 PM today. The vehicle entered New York City shortly thereafter. According to our law enforcement partners in Las Vegas, Mr. Tamura has a documented mental health history. His motives are still under investigation and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location. 345 Park Avenue is a commercial office building whose tenants include the NFL, Rudin Management, KPMG, and Blackstone.
(08:51)
At this time, four of the five victims are deceased, including our NYPD cop. Our officer was transported here to New York Presbyterian along with one male civilian, the lone shooting survivor, who was in critical but stable condition at this time. To other civilians, one male and one female, both deceased, were brought to Bellevue. The fourth civilian is a female who was found dead on the 33rd floor of the location. Additionally, there are four other victims being treated for minor injuries sustained in their attempts to flee the scene. Victims' names are being withheld at this time, pending family notification.
(09:35)
Officers from our Special Operations division are currently conducting a secondary sweep of the entire building. I want to be very clear, we believe this to be a lone shooter and there is no longer an active threat to the public. But today, four innocent victims are dead. Among them is NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam, 36 years old with four years on the job. Officer Islam was married with two young boys and his wife is pregnant with their third child. He's assigned to the 47 Precinct in the Bronx. He was doing the job that we asked him to do. He put himself in harm's way. He made the ultimate sacrifice, shot in cold blood wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city. He died as he lived, a hero.
(10:32)
I want to extend my profound sympathies to all of the victims and their families and to the brave NYPD cops who today lost a brother. There's still many questions that we have to answer and we will answer them, but for now, our city is in mourning for the innocent lives lost. May their memories be a blessing.
(10:55)
Pat. Sorry. Sorry.
Patrick Hendry (11:02):
Patrick Hendry, President of the PBA. This is a devastating night for our city, for our police department. Pure evil came to the heart of our city and struck innocent people and one of our police officers who were protecting those people.
(11:29)
We lost four people tonight and our hero brother who gave his life for this city. He was a hardworking police officer who was proud we know from hearing from his family, to put on that uniform and shield of a New York City police officer every day and went out and did his job. And he went out every single day to provide for his family, whether it was overtime or whatever he had to do to provide for this family. That's what he did on a daily basis. And his family is devastated. A wife life losing a husband who provided for that family, a father who's not going to see his son again.
(12:26)
And our hearts of every New York City police officer right now is hurting. We're hurting for our brother police officer who we lost. We're hurting for that family. We're hurting for all the victims and hurting for all the families of the victims. And we're all asking, why? Why did pure evil come here? And we know our police department and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to get those answers.
(13:03)
But now our job as police officers is to be there for this family, to support them in any way that we can, to come together as a city, to be there for these families of the victims. And we will continue to do that, because that's what New York City police officers do. And we're going to continue as police officers to go out and protect this city because we know that evil can strike at any time, that police officers are willing to risk their lives to protect everyone in this room and protect everyone in this city. So we ask all New Yorkers to pray for our police officer's family, to pray for all the victims and their families, and we need to stand united going forward. We thank you for covering this story.
Mayor (14:00):
We are also joined by our federal partners from the ATF and the FBI. I want to give an opportunity to our partner in the FBI, a special agent in charge of the New York City Fields Office, Chris Rea.
Chris Rea (14:22):
Thank you, Mayor. First off, on behalf of all the men and women of the FBI, I'd like to extend my deepest condolences to the victims of this senseless tragedy. And also personally, I want to extend my condolence to the police commissioner and just please know, ma'am and Mr. Mayor, that you have the full force of FBI New York and the full force of FBI to get to the bottom of the answers.
(14:49)
Upon learning of the incident this evening, FBI agents immediately deployed to the scene to assist our NYPD partners. While this remains an NYPD investigation, the FBI's New York office stands ready to provide any and all resources to assist our partners. Initial checks of our internal systems have not revealed any information about the subject, but when and if more information becomes available, we will share what we can, when we can, with the public. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
Okay. We're going to do some on-topic questions, folks. We'll start with CNN, please.
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Just a quick question about the police officer. When he was standing in the lobby, did he have a chance to fire his weapon at the shooter or was he completely ambushed? And also, when the shooter got to the floor, approximately how many people were on that floor and what were they doing?
Mayor (15:50):
All of this information is under active investigation. Videos are being reviewed, and as this investigation continues to unfold, we'll be able to answer those questions. But right now it's an active investigation.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Myles Cooper?
Myles Cooper (16:04):
Commissioner, if you can just talk about he was working Paid Detail there, to people who might not know what that means. And was he the only officer working that Paid Detail there?
Commissioner Tisch (16:15):
I believe that there were two officers in the building working Paid Detail assignments in different parts of the building.
Myles Cooper (16:21):
And what is that if people may say he's on his day off, working in uniform?
Commissioner Tisch (16:27):
Paid Detail is a program that we have set up at the police department that allows companies to hire officers in uniform to provide extra uniform security.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
[inaudible 00:16:42].
Speaker 9 (16:42):
Commissioner, based on interviews with witnesses, did the shooter say anything at all? And secondly, did he leave behind any manifesto, any writings or any [inaudible 00:16:52]?
Commissioner Tisch (16:53):
I already described what we found in the vehicle and it's too early in the investigation to discuss anything more.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
[inaudible 00:17:01].
Speaker 10 (17:01):
Thank you. Is there any indication that he had a prior connection to New York [inaudible 00:17:08] real estate industry [inaudible 00:17:10]?
Commissioner Tisch (17:10):
As I said, too early in this investigation to tell, but nothing that we have seen preliminarily.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Dean.
Dean (17:17):
Commissioner, can you talk about what the medication was that was found in the vehicle-
Commissioner Tisch (17:19):
I cannot.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
… and can you speak to any prior law enforcement contact you may have had?
Commissioner Tisch (17:25):
I cannot, other than to say that our partners in Las Vegas made us aware of a mental health history.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
[inaudible 00:17:35].
Speaker 12 (17:35):
Can you please share any details you have on [inaudible 00:17:40] his history or his origin and whether or not he had-
Commissioner Tisch (17:45):
Just what I said already. It was an M4 rifle and we also found a revolver in the vehicle with ammunition and magazines.
Speaker 12 (17:58):
Did he have a license to carry?
Commissioner Tisch (18:01):
He did have a license in the state of Nevada.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
[inaudible 00:18:04].
Speaker 13 (18:04):
Was there intelligence indicating that this location's at risk beforehand. And are you considering this a targeted attack or an act of terrorism?
Commissioner Tisch (18:13):
At this time, it's too early in the investigation to tell.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
Okay. Thank you, everyone.