New York, July 29
A lone gunman went on a rampage at a posh Park Avenue office building in New York, shooting dead a Bangladeshi immigrant police officer and three others before killing himself.
The shooter entered the building housing the world's largest multinational investment company, BlackRock, on Monday evening (local time), carrying an M4 rifle, shot police officer Didarul Islam, and a woman in the lobby, according to police.
He took a lift to the 33rd-floor office of a real estate company that owns the building, and after firing at random, killing two people, shot himself dead, police said.
One of the victims was a man and the other a woman.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, choked back tears as he announced the death of Islam, who he said was an immigrant from Bangladesh.
"He was saving lives," he said at a news conference. "He was protecting New Yorkers."
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said 36-year-old Islam had two sons, and his wife was expecting another child.
"He made the ultimate sacrifice, shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city," she said.
The gunman, Shane Tamura, 27, had a "documented mental health history," Tisch said.
The motive behind the shooting and why he chose to go to the real estate office on the 33rd floor is unknown.