Several prominent Democrats changed their tune on support for the police following Monday’s attack at a Manhattan office building.
Four people were killed in the shooting, including four-year New York Police Department (NYPD) veteran Didarul Islam.
Islam, a 36-year-old married father of two with a third child due next month, was reportedly off duty and working as a security officer for Rudin Management Company but was dressed in NYPD uniform.
In the wake of the shooting, many former anti-police Democrats have come out in support of first responders.
New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday he prays for Islam and his family and “honor[s] the legacy of service and sacrifice he leaves behind.”
Officer Didarul Islam was one of four people killed in yesterday’s horrific shooting.
A Bangladeshi immigrant who joined the NYPD four years ago, he lived in Parkchester with his pregnant wife, their two young children, and his elderly parents.
When he joined the police… pic.twitter.com/9KRZhQeB5c
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) July 29, 2025
Mamdani’s comments on Monday’s shooting vastly differ from his previous thoughts on first responders, including a November 2020 post that reads: “Queer liberation means defund the police.” (RELATED: Democrats Running For Mayor In Crime-Ridden New York City Suddenly Back Cops)
Two days after that post, Mamdani responded “nature is healing” to a tweet that read “I JUST SAW A COP CRYING IN HIS CAR LMAOOOO.”
Meanwhile, Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered her sympathy to families impacted by the shooting in a Monday night post, saying: “My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and everyone impacted. As my office continues to monitor the situation, I want to thank our first responders for their bravery.”
Tonight, a horrific shooting in Midtown took the lives of 3 people, including an NYPD officer. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and everyone impacted.
As my office continues to monitor the situation, I want to thank our first responders for their bravery. https://t.co/WLqKexhZpd
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) July 29, 2025
Yet Ocasio-Cortez was one of the leading voices in efforts to defund the police after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
A June 2020 post from Ocasio-Cortez called for defunding police departments, which she said actually meant reorienting budgets for minority communities:
“Defund” means that Black & Brown communities are asking for the same budget priorities that White communities have already created for themselves: schooling > police,etc.
People asked in other ways, but were always told “No, how do you pay for it?”
So they found the line item.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 9, 2020
A petition to defund the police is still active on Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign website.
Ocasio-Cortez, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, supported the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, which limited police officers’ ability to respond to incidents involving black suspects and other minorities.
Both Schumer and Gillibrand released social media posts addressing Monday’s shooting, and Schumer gave remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
“He died doing what NYPD officers do every day: running towards danger, protecting others, putting his life on the line, and that’s what he did and he paid. He paid the ultimate price,” Schumer said of Islam. “When an NYPD officer is killed doing his duty, it’s not just a tragedy, it’s a rupture in the soul of our city – our beloved city. And it requires that we mourn and honor all those we’ve lost,” Schumer said.
In his post Monday night, however, Schumer couldn’t help but call for lawmakers to “do more to stop gun violence in America.”
Thank you to our brave first responders on the scene in Manhattan tonight. I’m praying for everyone affected. We must do more to stop gun violence in America.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 29, 2025
On the Senate floor in June 2020, Schumer was soft on national “Defund the Police” riots, instead calling for Republicans to “not spend time on fringe conspiracy theories.”
We must reform law enforcement practices and address broader disparities in our society—the systemic racism and injustice—in our laws and our customs.
Right now.
Not later.Not next year.
Not after the next George Floyd.
Right now. pic.twitter.com/7eq5sKK07p
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 1, 2020
Gillibrand, who has also historically been in favor of gun control, offered both her sympathies to the victims and her gratitude to the first responders in Monday’s incident.
“I’m grateful to our extraordinary first responders, and I’m praying for the family of NYPD officer Didarul Islam,” Gillibrand wrote. “Officer Islam honorably served his community, and he will be remembered for his courage.”
