More than 100 New Yorkers moved by the horrific Park Ave. mass shooting gathered at a multi-faith prayer vigil at Bryant Park Tuesday night.
A gathering of some 150 mourners — including faith leaders, officials and city residents — attended the vigil for NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, security officer Aland Etienne and Rudin employee Julia Hyman who were gunned down inside 345 Park Ave. Monday evening.
“We need our faith community to do something that is more powerful than any legislative agenda and that is prayer,” Mayor Adams said. “It is time to pray, it is time to lean into our faith and understand the significance of the power of prayer and what it represents.”
Some eight floral arrangements were placed near the podium where NYC officials spoke about the lives lost in the shooting. The vigil began with a prayer and ended with faith leaders sharing condolences.
“It’s wonderful to see all the religions come together, and its important to see the city come together as one,” said Michelle Olveirva, 50, of Brooklyn. “We are all mourning together over this horrendous crime.”
The brazen shooting rocked New York City when the gunman Shane Tamura double-parked his BMW and entered the a 44-story skyscraper that takes up an entire block from E. 51st St. to E. 52nd St., and whose occupants include the The Blackstone Group, Rudin Management and NFL headquarters.
“It’s very sad, it was too soon for them to leave this earth,” said Steven Acendra, 41, of Queens, who is a building super a block away from the horrific mass shooting. “I was there on that day. It was a terrible panic. I don’t remember a New York like this growing up. We have to be more careful now. …I came to show my respect for the dead.”
Tamura, toting his M4 assault-style rifle with a scope and a barrel flashlight attached, walked into the lobby of the building and opened fire, first killing Officer Didarul Islam, who was in his NYPD uniform working as a paid security detail authorized by the department,
The gunman shot two other people in the lobby, killing one and badly wounding the other, before taking the elevator to the 33rd floor, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
“Everybody is grieving, it’s the kind of grief that doesn’t go away, these tragedies have been happening again and again,” said Yesib Carvajal, 65, who lives in Rockaway, Queens, adding: “The politicians won’t enact the necessary legislation to save our lives. We are supposed to be a nation of love, how can people be killed with these powerful weapons. This shouldn’t happen in a democracy.”
Adams and Gov, Kathy Hochul pushed for better gun reform laws at the vigil, denouncing Tamura’s ability to obtain an assault rifle.
“We have advocated for smart, sensible gun reform,” Adams said. “You cannot create an environment where the person who does not have the mental capacity, and the tool and the bullets to walk into any building in America and create havoc of this proportion. We can not respond to senseless gun laws through vigils, It must be responded through legislation,”
The governor added: “If this nation misses yet another moment to do what is right that they neglected to do for decades then shame on them. This is the time to stand up and say no more slaughter by a weapon of mass destruction designed to kill people on the battlefield, not in our buildings in the great city of New York.”
The critically wounded survivor is NFL executive Craig Clementi. He has since stabilized, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a memo to staffers, according to ESPN.
Tamura took his own life following the mass shooting, leaving behind a suicide note saying he suffered from CTE, a brain injury often linked to playing football, and was targeting the NFL — but took the wrong elevator, officials said Tuesday.
Tisch knew LePatner personally, according to a police source with knowledge of the case.
“Aaland, Julia, my beautiful friend Wesley and police officer Didarul Islam were taken from our arms in violence. They now rest in God’s arms in peace, may their memories be a blessing,” Tisch said.
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