Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”

July 30, 2025

Andrew Ross Sorkin: Welcome back to Squawk Box this morning. Monday's mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan, the deadliest in New York City in 25 years. Four people were killed. Joining us right now from City Hall is New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

Mr. Mayor, good morning to you. Before we even just get into this, and there's about 100 questions we have for you, what can you tell us in terms of just the latest, in terms of what you actually know was the motive, if we know the motive, and you think how New Yorkers should be thinking about this?

Mayor Eric Adams: It is still unfolding, and these investigations are thorough, and the investigators are highly qualified in getting to the facts. We sent two separate teams to Las Vegas. One of them is specifically looking at the gun that was used and the gun that was in the vehicle, and the second team is conducting a search warrant of the home of the perpetrator. 

We do know that the gun that was used in the shooting, a part of the gun, the lower part, was given to the perpetrator that carried out the shooting, and so there's many layers and many pieces to the puzzle that these investigators are going to put together, and we want to do timely and accurate information to make sure New Yorkers know what's taking place.

Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, the early indication is that this individual was targeting the NFL, which raises the question, given what we saw last year with the murder of the UnitedHealth executive, whether we're coming into this sort of, I don't want to call it a new normal, I hope it is not a new normal, but this idea that people are targeting either companies or executives or the like.

Mayor Adams: And I think what you are saying is extremely important, and we cannot ignore the role that social media appears to be playing in this. When you start deifying those who commit these violent acts, we saw what happened after the shooting of the healthcare executive. We almost treated the shooter as some form of hero. You don't use violence to address your corporate concerns. There are ways to do that. 

And we're not 100 percent sure if the target was the NFL, but we do know, based on the note of the complaints about CTE and other aspects of this investigation, that it appears that it has something to do with football. He never played professional football. He never played college football. So if we allow individuals to use their hatred for a particular corporation to turn into violence, that is not acceptable.

Sorkin: What is your sense of whether office buildings in New York City need to be quote-unquote “hardened” in ways that they are not today?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think they are. And I really must take my hat off to Rudin Management. When I did a walkthrough of the crime scene of the night of the shooting, they had several aspects of active shooter training that was put in place. 

You saw some of the pictures of putting office furniture against the door. They had a safe room on each floor that doubled as bathrooms where you can lock yourself in, bulletproof doors. There were various aspects of stopping elevators from going up to the entire floor. That was really harmed when the security personnel was killed at the desk. But they took various steps to be prepared for moments like this. 

And I think based on what they've done, they saved lives. And we meet with corporate security leaders monthly. We have a council round table. We share best practices. They have implemented them. And every employer should ensure that their employee, unfortunately, knows about active shooting training.

Sorkin: But when you see a shooter like the images that we've just been showing, literally effectively walking into the building openly carrying like that, it raises the question whether buildings need to have effectively armed security and armed security outside the buildings.

Mayor Adams: Any time you have a shooting of this magnitude, you should do a reflection and find out what are the lessons learned. When you have an individual that has the weaponry and the desire to take the lives of innocent people, that is extremely difficult to prevent. You want to terminate the threat as much as possible and that's what our law enforcement officers did when they did their floor by floor search. 

But when you have a person who traveled across the country with the desire of walking into a building and started shooting the first individuals that he saw. So if you had armed security in front of the building, he would have likely shot them as well. 

His desire was to kill and our officers responded and ensured to minimize the harm. The training that took place of active shootings minimized the harm. When you have someone with that level of violence, you have to attempt to terminate that threat as quickly as possible.

Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, I don't want to turn this interview into a political one, but I do want to ask you about this because the clear front runner to be the next mayor apparently called for the end of the strategic response group that is part of the NYPD. That is the same group that reported and was on the scene that night to try to end this situation. I want you to tell us about what that group does.

Mayor Adams: They are the elite of the department, a well-trained tactical group to deal with extremely dangerous situations. They are like our highly trained tactical group units in the Police Department that specifically are there to carry out these functions. 

We are dealing in an environment where there are not only threats of terrorism, but terrorist acts and even lone wolves that will go in and carry out these functions. When you start dismantling the pieces of the law enforcement apparatus that are specifically designed to carry out functions, that is extremely dangerous. 

And a lack of knowledge and understanding of these roles really could harm law enforcement. Even when you talk about not sending police officers to domestic violence incidents, for example. That is one of the most dangerous jobs an officer can go on. And in fact, Officer Mora and Rivera [were] assassinated going on a domestic violence job. 

There are no routine jobs in the Police Department. They can turn violent instantly. And so I think it's the wrong decision to do, and we should never endanger public safety in the city. It's not an experiment, it's experience.

Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, we want to thank you for joining us. I want to thank the NYPD and the officer that was lost that evening for his service. Thank you so much for joining us today. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you, take care. 

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