Didarul Islam, a New York City police officer, would have been at his home in the Bronx on Tuesday morning, helping get his pregnant wife ready for a prenatal visit. Their third child is due in August.
Instead, Mr. Islam’s family and community are mourning his death after he was shot and killed on Monday evening while providing security at a Park Avenue office building.
“Who is going to take care of his family?” said Azadul Islam, a longtime friend of Officer Islam who shares his surname. “He has two kids who will remember their father and one who will not be able to say we lost our father, as he is not going to know his father.”
Officer Islam was known as a pillar of the largely Bangladeshi neighborhood and an active member of his religious community. He attended the Parkchester Islamic Center before becoming more involved at a local mosque near his home.
“I knew him very well because always on his off days he would come to our Masjid,” said Anamul Haque, a friend, referring to their house of prayer. “On his off days he would often come for all five prayers.”
In addition to sending money to relatives in his home country of Bangladesh, Officer Islam was also instrumental in organizing his local mosque, the Bronx Islamic Cultural Center. The center, a smaller mosque for neighborhood residents established in 2020, provides day care and summer school for working parents each year. According to Mr. Haque, Officer Islam donated roughly $5,000 to help open the mosque and then $2,000 to $3,000 more to help with maintenance.
In a video shared with The New York Times, Officer Islam can be seen sitting next to his youngest son during a lesson at the mosque. He was one of the few parents in the room. He had that day off, Mr. Haque said, and wanted to spend time with his son.
Neohalin Medina said he knew Officer Islam from their daily interactions at the bodega. Officer Islam would come by with his two children around 4 p.m. every day, telling his children to get whatever they wanted, said Mr. Medina, who has worked at the bodega for six years. Fritos were Officer Islam’s favorites.
“He was a good guy,” Mr. Medina said on Tuesday morning as he flipped an egg on the bodega’s grill. “He just wanted to make sure his family was OK.”
Officer Islam had lived in the area for about 14 years, and worked hard to provide for his family, as a police offer and through a department detail that allowed him to make extra money as a security guard.
On Tuesday morning, a female police officer accompanied Officer Islam’s wife to her prenatal appointment.
When his father learned of his son’s death, he had a minor stroke. The family will monitor his condition before holding a funeral, according to Azadul Islam.
Maia Coleman is a reporter for The Times covering the New York Police Department and criminal justice in the New York area.
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