Tag: New York

At least four people, including a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, were killed in a shooting on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan skyscraper after a lone gunman on Monday evening opened fire inside a building home to the corporate offices of the National Football League (NFL) and investment firm Blackstone, US media outlets have reported.

Media reports suggest that the shooter, identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. NYC Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that after entering the building and shooting one person on the 33rd floor of the Park Avenue building, “he then proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest.”

The lone gunmen had a mental health history, media reports quoted police as saying, adding that the shooter’s motives are still being determined. 

Citing a source with knowledge of the investigation, CNN reported that the gunman had a suicide note in his back pocket alleging that he suffered from CTE, a brain disease linked to head trauma. In the note, he also asked for his brain to be studied.

The skyscraper where the deadly shooting occurred has long been a home for major multinational companies, located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, where corporate staff flow in and out every day.

The building, 345 Park Avenue, is owned by Rudin Management, which bills itself as one of the largest privately owned real estate companies in the city.

Who was the officer?

The killed NYPD officer, Didarul Islam, was a 36-year-old husband and father. He was off-duty at the time and working security in the building where the shooting occurred. He had served in the NYPD’s 47th precinct in the Bronx for three and a half years, Mayor Eric Adams said in a news conference Monday night.

The mayor stated that Islam was an immigrant from Bangladesh, and his parents’ only son, adding, “Everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God and believed in living out the life of a godly person.”

Four boys recently caught subway surfing in the Bronx are among the 200 people rescued through the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) drone program since it began, according to the department.

According to the New York Police Department, the boys, aged 16, 15, 12, and 12, were captured by drones climbing up on the northbound 6 express train last Thursday as it went under a bridge and through many above-ground stations in the Bronx.

According to department-released footage, one of the boys climbed onto the train’s roof and instantly crouched as it went under the Westchester Avenue Bridge. 

After that, one of the three boys slipped, but the other three came out from between the train cars and stood up.

The boys were also seen jumping on top of the train as it moved through the Bronx.

 After the NYPD Drone Team shared their descriptions with officers, police were able to stop the train and apprehend the boys before any serious injuries occurred.

Since the NYPD began using drones in November 2023, authorities state that hundreds of people have been arrested for subway surfing.

“It’s not a thrill. It’s a deadly risk,” the NYPD wrote in a social media post earlier this week. “Our drone technology has already helped save 200 lives, spotting subway surfers before tragedy strikes. We’re watching from above. Because you matter down here. Ride inside, stay alive.”

As of July 6, three people have died subway surfing in 2025, compared to two deaths during the same period last year. In 2024, six people lost their lives due to the activity, following five deaths in 2023.

Carlos Oliver, 15, who was subway surfing on a No. 7 train in Queens over the Fourth of July weekend, was one of the most recent fatalities.

As the train neared the Queensboro Plaza Station, officials said he lost his balance and fell. He was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries.

Six people including three children were killed after a sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York on Thursday, sparking a major water rescue operation, authorities said.

The crash killed all those onboard the aircraft: the pilot and a family from Spain. Two of the victims were initially taken to a hospital, but later succumbed to their injuries.

“At this time, all six victims have been removed from the water. And sadly, all six victims have been pronounced deceased,” Mayor Eric Adams told a briefing, after earlier calling it a “heartbreaking and tragic crash.”

Officials have yet to release the identities of the victims, but widespread US media reports identified one of the people aboard the helicopter as Agustin Escobar, a Spanish executive at global technology company Siemens.

The chopper’s landing skids were seen protruding from the river beside a tunnel vent as several boats clustered around the impact site.

Police from both New York and New Jersey, which is on the opposite side of the river from Manhattan, responded to the scene along with fire department vessels.

The NBC4 channel reported that its own helicopter was unable to take off because of weather conditions, with the weather in New York on Thursday gusty under thick cloud cover.

A witness told AFP it appeared like the helicopter’s rotor blade “shattered in the sky.”

“And after it shattered, then we saw the helicopter just spiral… And then it just crashed into the water just like that,” said fashion designer Belle Angel.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement it was Bell 206 helicopter.

“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate,” it added.

President Donald Trump took to social media to call the crash “terrible.”

“The footage of the accident is horrendous. God bless the families and friends of the victims,” he wrote on Truth Social.

– ‘Heartbreaking’ –

The river is a busy shipping channel and the scene of a dramatic 2009 incident when a US Airways jet safely landed in the water. All 155 people on board escaped alive in an event dubbed “Miracle on the Hudson.”

The river is as deep as 200 feet (60 meters) at points, and an AFP correspondent saw what appeared to be floatation devices deployed on the helicopter’s skids.

The average temperature of the river is 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) at this time of year, according to the US Geological Survey.

“Three adults and three children were on board a Bell 206 helicopter that had left from the downtown Skyport at just about 3 pm,” Adams said, adding that the tourists were a family from Spain.

Police and fire service (FDNY) divers raced to pull survivors from the wreckage, he said.

“NYPD divers pulled four people from the crash site, and FDNY Divers recovered an additional two. Immediate lifesaving measures were undertaken on the vessels at the scene, as well as the adjoining pier,” police commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene, and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where, sadly, both succumbed to their injuries.”

The chopper took off around 3 pm, flying south before heading up the Manhattan shoreline to the George Washington Bridge, turning back towards the downtown Manhattan heliport, losing control and hitting the water near a Hoboken pier, Tisch said.

The police commissioner said the aircraft was operated by New York Helicopter, which did not respond to a request for comment but lists the Bell 206 among its fleet.

There have been around 30 helicopter crashes in New York since 1980, Brooklyn Borough President Mark Levine told reporters, calling for tighter restrictions on helicopter traffic in the city.