Officer Islam was an immigrant from Bangladesh who joined the police force 3½ years ago, according to Marjanul Karim, 31, a close family friend. Mr. Karim said his friend “came as an immigrant, started working as a security guard at a school,” and found purpose mentoring other young Bangladeshi men, including him.
The victims were the sort of people who could be found working into the evening in an office building anywhere across the city: A police officer picking up off-duty security shifts. A longtime lobby guard. A senior executive at an investment giant. And a young real estate associate with less than a year at her firm.
Officer Islam, the father of two boys with a baby due in a few weeks, was working as a paid security guard at 345 Park Avenue when the gunman sprayed the lobby with bullets.
When Officer Islam’s father learned of his death, he had a minor stroke.
Officer Islam was a generous donor to his local mosque; his colleagues remembered him as a quiet man who, once he opened up, had the gift of gab, The New York Times reported.
“He was saving lives. He was protecting New Yorkers,” Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday. “He embodies what this city is all about.”
Karline Jean, a former employee at the investment firm Blackstone, said that description was apt, calling Mr. Etienne an amiable colleague who put others first. The two had often discussed Haitian politics and his love for his children.
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Ms. Jean recalled frequent conversations about his daughter, a trained ballerina who moved to the Dominican Republic because of the turmoil in Haiti. “He was a provider,” Ms. Jean said. “He would have given his life to ensure that her education was secure.”
His brother, Gathmand Etienne, said in a social media post that he was more than a brother. “He was a father, a son, and a light in our lives,” he wrote. “Our hearts are shattered.”
At Rudin Management, the long-established real estate company, Julie Hyman was one of the newer employees, having been hired last November. She was working late, and was killed when the gunman arrived on the 33rd floor and opened fire on the firm’s office.
She was a New Yorker, a graduate of the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, where she was not just a varsity athlete in soccer, swimming and lacrosse, but the captain of all three teams her senior year, and also the recipient of a leadership award, according to a letter sent to the student body on Tuesday by Kari Ostrem, the head of school.
The funeral, which was held at the Parkchester Jame Masjid, a mosque on a quiet street in the Bronx neighborhood where Officer Islam lived, drew a large crowd of mourners, with attendance by his loved ones, Police Department executives and officers from at least 54 of the city’s 77 precincts, and the major candidates for New York City mayor.
About an hour before the funeral was set to begin, a jumbo screen on the back of a truck flipped through images of the slain officer. Family and friends had spoken about his dedication to work and family, and the images — most of them with his kids — reflect this. In one image his youngest son is wearing his N.Y.P.D. officer’s hat.
The funeral procession for Police Officer Didarul Islam swept the Parkchester neighborhood in the Bronx, where he lived. The neighborhood was transformed overnight. The main avenue was shut down to traffic along with a four-block radius around the mosque where the funeral will be held, Parkchester Jame Masjid, which Officer Islam attended for many years.
