A gunman opened fire in a midtown Manhattan high-rise Monday evening, killing one police officer and three civilians before turning the gun on himself.
The 44-story building at 345 Park Avenue near Rockefeller Center is home to the NFL, private equity behemoth Blackstone, accounting firm KPMG, and the management company for the building, Rudin Management.
The Megyn Kelly Show has a policy of not naming mass shooters, but authorities described the suspect as a 27-year-old black male from Las Vegas, Nevada, who drove across the country before committing the heinous act.
The Victims
Security footage shows the gunman entering the building around 6:30pm with an M4 rifle casually draped over his shoulder. He immediately opened fire on off-duty NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, a married father of two young boys with a third child on the way, in the lobby.
The killer then murdered a woman hiding behind a pillar and a security guard taking cover behind a desk. He rode the elevator up to the thirty-third floor where he struck and killed another man. Finally, he proceeded down a hallway and shot himself in the chest. He was found dead at the scene. Several others in the building were left seriously injured.
Blackstone confirmed it lost “one of our most beloved colleagues,” Wesley LePatner, in the shooting rampage. The married mom of two was described as “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected.”
Aland Etienne, 46, was identified as the security guard gunned down in the senseless attack. His grieving brother wrote on Facebook that “he was a father, a son, and a light in our lives.”
Potential Motive
The gunman ended up on a floor belonging to Rudin Management, which New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested was a mistake. He seemingly chose the building because it was home to the NFL’s corporate headquarters. The gunman was a competitive football player in his youth, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said he had a “documented mental health history.”
The New York Post reported a three-page note found on the killer claimed he suffered from the degenerative brain disease known as CTE and contained references to a documentary that probed the links between the NFL and traumatic brain injuries. The handwritten note mentioned former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Terry Long who was diagnosed with CTE after ingesting antifreeze to kill himself.
“You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you,” the gunman reportedly wrote. “Please study brain for CTE. I’m sorry. The league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits… They failed us.”
Law and Order
The mass shooting marked the deadliest in the city in 25 years, and Megyn said on Monday’s program that she hopes it will stick with NYC voters as they head to polls this fall to elect a new mayor.
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who pulled off an upset win in the Democratic primary to become the clear favorite to win in November, has been explicit in his calls to defund the police. As the carnage unfolded on Monday, he initially posted on X that he was “heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting” and was “holding the victims, their families, and the NYPD officer in critical condition in my thoughts.” Tuesday morning, he acknowledged the officer’s death in a subsequent post and said he would “honor the legacy of service and sacrifice he leaves behind.”
Megyn said Mamdani had some “nerve… trying to look like he cares about the cops” in the wake of the tragedy. Back in June 2020, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo claimed people saying “defund the police” really just wanted to see reform. Mamdani reposted the quote on X with an explicit correction: “No, we want to defund the police.” He also said the NYPD “is racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety” and called for the government to “defund it” and “dismantle it” to “end the cycle of violence.”
Since becoming the Democratic nominee for mayor, Mamdani has tried to say he was misinterpreted – but Megyn said she doesn’t buy it. “Now he tried to soften it… but this guy is still saying he wants domestic violence victims to be treated with social workers showing up and not cops and so on,” she noted. “I’m incensed by it. I do not believe him that his heart is totally in the right place when it comes to our New York City cops. I believed him the first time that he thinks they’re racist and ought to be defunded.”
If there is anything to come from the senseless violence, Megyn said she hopes it will serve as a wake-up call for the people of New York City. “Now that this has happened, I really hope people reconsider… and take this as the reminder they needed that safety and security in New York are an absolute essential, or New York doesn’t exist in the way that we knew it,” Megyn explained. “Eight million New Yorkers live there full time, but… about 22 million come in and fill the city on a work day, and that needs to be able to go on without people fearing for their lives.”
“You take away the cops, you defund the cops in any meaningful way, and it changes,” she concluded. “It changes dramatically.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,118 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.