Transcript: Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Tisch Provide Remarks at Funeral of Fallen NYPD Officer Didarul Islam

July 31, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: I want to first acknowledge in the room today those electeds that I saw, starting with our Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, our District Attorney Darcel Clark, our Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, our congressman, Congressman Espaillat. I'm not sure if I'm missing one. Congressman Ritchie Torres is here, our Councilman Yusef Salaam that's here as well, and I apologize if I'm missing any name of any of the electeds here in a unified way. We are here to show our support for this family. 

And I'm not here as the mayor, I'm here as a parent, as a father, and when I visited Officer Islam's dad yesterday, I could only reflect on the birth of Jordan. I remember being in the delivery room when he came through his mother's birth canal, and when I saw his head for the first time, and the doctor moved to allow an assist in the birth. I moved her hand away, and I touched my son's head because I wanted to be the first person to touch my son when he entered into life. 

And I thought about that when I sat on the couch yesterday, that many people don't fully understand, if you have never been a parent, you don't fully understand the relationship between a parent and a child. And throughout my life, for my son's 29 years of life, I only hope that one day he will have the honor to bury me as his dad. 

Because sons are supposed to bury their dads. Mothers are supposed to be buried by their daughters and their children. There is nothing more tragic than having a parent bury their child. The pain is so immense. It is so intense. And we think about it over and over again, just in these three and a half years as being the mayor, the times I had to attend funerals, of the public at large, but specifically law enforcement officers, Detective Diller, Officer Mora and Rivera, of hearing the cries of their families and loved ones, trying to find words that could properly define how we're feeling the pain of what we've lost. 

This murder and the murder of others who were in the building, it cut me to my core. I spent my entire life defending and fighting for the innocent people of this city. And each step I take personally, because as the mayor, I am responsible for the safety of New Yorkers. That is my obligation. And that is my most basic function. 

And for someone to drive across our country, carrying an automatic weapon and taking the lives of innocent people, you ask yourself over and over again, what more could we have done? How could we have responded better? You have a tendency to blame yourself. And I just want to say sorry to this family. I want to say sorry as one parent to another parent. And we must live in the spirit of Officer Islam and what he stood for and what he would always stand for and what he fought for. 

And I want to say thank you to the men and women of the New York City Police Department in general, but specifically to the men and women of SRG. They entered the building while the shooter was still alive and they conducted a floor-by-floor search. They wanted to ensure that everyone in that building would have come out safely. The men and women of ESU, the men and women who responded and carried out your son out of that building, hoping to give him the medical care that he deserved to save his life. 

I want to thank those of Rudin Management who did everything possible to create a safe environment, unfortunately, in a system where we are now having to train each other on how not to be the victim of senseless violence. And I want to thank the men and women of the 47th Precinct. In spite of what happened, they put on a uniform the next day. They carried out their jobs and their obligations and their responsibility to protect the people of this city. 

And I want to thank New Yorkers, the number of calls and communications that we received to stand in unison with this family and this city as we heal together. And I want to thank you, governor, the governor of the State of New York, your leadership during these triumph times of making sure our police officers and our families receive the support they need to carry out their job. 

And to you, police commissioner, for what you have served this family, not using the terminology that we are family, that we abandon each other during times of need, but the services that you have provided for this family during these difficult times is admirable in the spirit of who we stand for as men and women of the New York City Police Department in the City of New York. 

This is a law enforcement family, a law enforcement family. The cousins are part of the law enforcement community. They believe in public safety. They came here pursuing the American dream, a Bangladesh community that has grown in power and strength. 

And as the governor stated, he could have gone into any other occupation he wanted, but he wanted to put on that uniform and he wanted to protect fellow New Yorkers. And he wanted to let us know that he believed in what the city and what this country stood for. That's the greatest symbol of what we know we are as a country. 

So as the mayor of the City of New York, yes, I'm angry. I'm angry that a dad has lost his son, that a mother has lost her child. I'm angry that two boys are not going to grow up and be with their father to go inside the mosque and learn the power of the Quran. I'm angry that a child that's on the way is not going to have the opportunity to let his dad touch his head as he exits the womb. 

I'm angry that this community has watched one of their own leave our city prematurely. I'm angry that the men and women of the Police Department are watching a fallen brother who died as a hero defending this city. But in all that anger, I also have hope. I have hope because of who Officer Islam was. I have hope that we still have in our city men and women coming from different walks of life, deciding that they want to wear that blue uniform and fight to protect our city from those who wish to harm us. 

I have hope that if we're in this room together in this mosque, lifting up our hero, then we can enter the mosques, the synagogues, the churches, the Buddhist temples, the Sikh temples, and also cross-pollinate and coordinate on how we can make this city a greater place that a person would not believe violence is an answer to the question. 

I'm filled with hope and optimism today because of the life of Officer Islam. And I commend the mother and father of our officer. They instilled something special in him. Everyone we talked about, they talked about how special he was and what he represented. If we are true practitioners of the faith that we have embraced, then we should see God in each other. We saw God in Officer Islam. And now we must take that God-like energy that he offered to allow us to live out his legacy the way he will want to. 

Our hearts lift him up in prayer. Our city is with you. As one parent to another, I will continue to pray for you and your family. His mother, his wife, his children, his child on the way. And as the Quran states, we come from Allah and we return to Allah. I've learned not to question God. I learned to respect God. May God be with you.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: As-salamu alaykum. To the people of Parkchester, to Imam Muhammad Mainul Islam, and the entire Parkchester Jame Masjid family, thank you for your graciousness, for your compassion, and for welcoming us into your community. Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, thank you for being here with us. 

To Jamila, Ahyan, and Azhaa, to Mohammed and Minara, to Naima and Nadima, to all extended family and friends, to police officers from the 4-7 precinct across the department and around the nation, and to every person mourning with us today, on behalf of the entire New York City Police Department, I extend to you my deepest and most sincere condolences. 

Three days ago, time was moving fast for Didarul Islam. His two young boys were growing quickly, getting bigger and more independent every day. And in just a few weeks, another blessing was on the way. His sons were eager to meet their new baby brother, to teach him, and to keep him safe. But of course, Didarul would be there to help with all that. After all, he was a New York City cop, and protecting people is what he did, so his boys, they wouldn't have to grow up too fast, their baba would be there. 

And then, in one shattering, incomprehensible instant, time stopped. A killer on a self-centered, senseless crusade of violence took the lives of four innocent New Yorkers. He tore a father from his children, a husband from his wife, a son from his family, and in that moment, he ripped the world away from everyone who knew and loved NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam. 

He was the son of two cities, born in Sylhet, Bangladesh, called to New York at the age of 20 by the promise of a better life. And he would build that life and fulfill that promise through service. He joined the NYPD first as a school safety agent in 2019 and became a police officer two years later. In his own words, the police were a blanket of the community there to provide comfort and care. And when he joined this department, he made that his personal responsibility. 

But it was the man beneath the shield, steady in spirit, generous in presence, who left the deeper imprint. No one saw that more clearly than his partner Pablo. At first, Didarul was rotating through partners like most New York City cops do, but despite everything that set them apart, he and Pablo found something that brought them together. 

Pablo was from the Dominican Republic, who was raising two daughters. Didarul was from Bangladesh, raising two sons. Two journeys, two traditions, two lives shaped continents apart. Yet here in this city, they found a bond as strong as family, a connection born of faith, carried by trust, and rooted in the values that they both lived by. And that is the most New York story there is. 

Because only in this city do two people from opposite ends of the earth end up in the same RMP watching each other's backs. Only in this city do those differences become strengths. Only in this city does a partnership like that feel not just possible, but inevitable. Pablo put it so simply, everything you can ask for in a partner, he was just that. 

But as much as this job meant to Didarul, his true measure was found in the beautiful life that he built beyond it. He talked often about his wife, his kids, his mortgage, as reminders of what he was working for. And he never stopped working for them. 12-hour tours in a busy precinct, extra shifts, paid details. Last Sunday, he was out at the Dominican Day Parade working more than a full tour. And on Monday, the day that he was killed, he picked up work at 345 Park Avenue to bring home just a little more because that's who he was. 

He didn't look for an easier way. He just showed up and he did the work. There's a quiet dignity to that, a quiet dignity. Everything for him was about building something for his family, for his mosque, for his adopted city, and for his relatives back in Bangladesh. They were all in his care and he found peace in watching them grow. 

Didarul came to this country with that purpose already alive in him. A sense of duty shaped by the belief that real meaning is found not in what we take from the world, but in what we give back. He stepped into a new land and chose to become part of its promise, to believe in its dream. And he did believe in the American dream, not as something handed down, but as something built with your own hands. 

He may not be here to see that dream fulfilled, but his sons will surely grow up with its foundation beneath their feet because baba laid it. Through the hours he worked, through the life that he built, through the path that he paved, that journey is now stitched into the fabric of this city. The hope of an immigrant, the strength of a family, the resolve to serve the place that had taken him in and made him its own. 

There's a belief in Islam, Sadaqah Jariyah, that the good we do in this world doesn't end when we do. That there is true power in good deeds and a life of service leaves a lasting trace. Officer Didarul Islam lived that kind of life, one that keeps unfolding in the world he left behind, in the steadiness that he brought to those around him, in the streets that still carry a sense of safety, because he once stood there in the example he offered, not loud, not showing, but strong enough to stay with you. 

His watch may be over, but his impact will never be. And if there is any grace to be found in this grief, it is knowing that the light that he carried did not go out, it just moved forward and it shines within the family that he worked so hard to build. For his wife and young boys, Didarul was the provider, the protector, the stable, supportive hand. And today, they are left to wonder, what now? Who will take care of us? 

Jamila, Ahyan, Azhaa, look around you. Look at all the NYPD officers here and outside this mosque and across this city who stand with you. I stand with you. I am so heartbroken for you and for your family. And as we scan that sea of blue, you will notice that they look a whole lot like Didarul. They wear his uniform, his shield, his collar brass. They carry on his purpose and are sworn to finish the work that he started. And they will be there for you always. 

In the NYPD, there are certain honors that carry deep and enduring meaning, not because they mark a destination, but because they speak to the path it took to get here, to the service given, the sacrifices made, and the legacy left behind. Didarul Islam came to this country as an immigrant with no guarantees, only the hope that hard work, that humility, and that purpose might lead him somewhere meaningful. And it did. 

He earned the respect of his peers. He believed in this department. With only four years on the job, he did the work of a cop with twice that time and in a command where the work never slowed. But no matter what this job threw at him, you could count on Didarul to get it done and to get it done right. 

And though his journey was cut too short, the way he lived this job with steadiness, with heart, with conviction, it reflected everything this title represents. So today, it is my honor and my great privilege to promote Police Officer Didarul Islam to detective first grade.

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