Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

July 29, 2025

Willie Geist: As we come up here on the top of the hour, running back to our top story this morning, we're learning more details about the police officer killed in yesterday's shooting here in Midtown Manhattan. 36-year-old Didarul Islam, one of four people gunned down at 345 Park Avenue, was an officer with the New York City Police Department for more than three years.

He was an immigrant from Bangladesh, the father of two young boys, with a third child on the way. A family friend spoke to the New York Times about Officer Islam's decision to join the NYPD, saying in part, he wanted to leave behind a legacy for his family, something they could be proud of. The suspected shooter in the attack has been identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura from Las Vegas, and said by police to have acted alone.

The motive has not been disclosed. Officials familiar with the investigation tell NBC News the suspect did leave a note at the scene, in part voicing anger about his mental illness, saying it may be linked to CTE from playing high school football.

Investigators are looking into whether that may be why he targeted this building, which houses the NFL's headquarters. Important to note, the investigation early and ongoing, and no link has been made there. Joining us now on Morning Joe, New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Adams, thanks for being with us this morning. You're not just the mayor, you're also a former police officer. I'm so sorry we mourn with you the loss of Officer Islam, an immigrant who came to this country from Bangladesh, created a life for his family and was killed yesterday. What more can you tell us about the investigation this morning, sir?

Mayor Eric Adams: Well, clearly when you think about Officer Islam and the role he played as a member of the New York City Police Department, it is part of the increase we see in various immigrant groups who are joining the force, and it has become one of the most diverse police agencies in the country.

We know that the suspect involved walked into the building carrying an automatic weapon in his right hand, and he entered the building, and immediately to the right was Officer Islam, and he took his life, and also struck an additional security personnel who was at the door as well. This was just a horrific condition.

We have a total, as has been reported, we have a total of six people who were shot, one being the suspect who shot himself, and we know that we have one individual who was injured, and he was seriously injured. They seem to be in serious condition at this time, and we have several other civilians who lost their life, including Officer Islam.

Geist: Mr. Mayor, what more do we know this morning about motive, if anything? So far, we know that police found that note. The alleged shooter mentioned CTE. It's a bit of a leap. Frankly, he didn't play in the NFL, didn't even play college football. He was a high school football player in California that he would then target the NFL offices and kill, at random, people in the lobby. Do we know anything else about why he did this?

Mayor Adams: No, no more than the note. We're still investigating. This is relatively new. There's no more than just a note at this time, and as you indicated, he talked about CTE. He was not an NFL player. We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building, and we're going to continue to investigate with our federal partners to ensure that we can find a reason and identify any other weapons.

We found an additional weapon in a car that was parked outside at this time, and just really hats off to the men and women of the New York City Police Department and our partners for immediately going in the building, going floor by floor, doing a search, looking for any incendiary devices to conduct a very thorough investigation.

Mike Barnicle: Mr. Mayor, there are many elements of this tragedy yesterday that have a ripple effect that people are going to be feeling for a long, long time. For me, one of the most critical aspects of it is the fact that Didarul Islam, the police officer killed yesterday, left two little boys, two little boys, and his wife is pregnant with their third child, and he's an immigrant from Bangladesh.

The New York City Police Department is filled with immigrant police officers. Can you tell us how many, what's the composition of the Police Department? How many languages, different languages are spoken by members of the New York Police Department for translation, things like that? How rich it is in terms of its composition, representing many races and many religions. Could you speak to that?

Mayor Adams: Yes, and there's a personal note for me in this story, but just specifically dealing with our agency has what we call fraternal organizations, from various ethnic and immigrant groups from the continent of Africa to South and Central America. Although they all wear the blue uniforms of members of the Police Department, the department allows them to celebrate their rich diversity and is extremely rich and diverse at this time.

The exact numbers I do not have, but we constantly attend various ethnic and the functions of these various groups, and they bring a very important opportunity. They are almost like ambassadors for their countries of origin.

And when it comes down to the Muslim officers, after September 11th, they went through a horrific experience because of the Terrorist Act, that had nothing to do with them, but it was attached to our Muslim officers. And so I actively assisted them in creating an organization that is still in place right now, and a fraternal organization. My attorney allowed, they used my attorney to put the organization in place, and we recruited heavily for our Muslims officers and Muslim immigrant group to join the Police Department. And so this is the first Bangladeshi officer that we lost in a line of duty, and just seeing the families and friends who were there had a devastating impact for the entire NYPD family, but the Bangladeshi community really felt this loss and pain.

Jonathan Lemire: Mayor Adams, good morning. This shooting yesterday, of course, comes a few months after the targeted killing of a healthcare executive, also on a Midtown Manhattan street. There's only so much a city government, a police force can do in a bustling big city, where people, of course, need to come and go as they please.

But are there messages that you or the police department are delivering to some of the corporations that call New York City home? There are so many there in Manhattan, about additional safeguards that perhaps should be in place in the wake of these high-profile incidents?

Mayor Adams: Yes, and that's a good question, because this gun came from outside our city. The perpetrator drove to New York, and so, yes, we are removing these illegal guns off our streets, over almost close to 23,000 illegal guns off our streets.

But when you have individuals driving into local municipalities from other areas with firearms, it makes it increasingly difficult. But our partners, such as the Building 345, Park Avenue, Rudin Management, they implemented so many safeguards, and even to the point that they could have stopped the elevator from moving in any direction or bringing it back to the floor.

But the security guard that was in charge of that operation was killed at the desk. As he attempted to flee the suspect, he was killed at the desk, and that took away that operation. But on the floor itself, there were safe rooms, such as the bathrooms, where you had bulletproof doors and you were able to lock in the staffers inside.

And so, there were many things that Rudin Management put in place to make their tenants safe, and there were some great opportunities to do so. And one individual was able to, or several individuals, able to lock themselves in the safe rooms, and we believe it played a major role in not having a greater loss of life.

Geist: New York City Mayor Eric Adams, our sympathies again to you and the New York City Police Department on the death of Officer Islam and to all the families impacted here. Thanks for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

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