During his first press conference since the mass shooting in New York City, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani criticized President Donald Trump's immigration policies while saying he was prepared for problems with customs returning back to the U.S. from his African vacation.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, two days after a deadly mass shooting killed four, including a police officer, Mamdani addressed questions about his wedding trip to his birthplace in Uganda.
Mamdani said he "flew commercial economy both ways, and I did not have issues getting through customs, though I was prepared for the potential of those issues."
"That is a sad reality of living in our president's United States," Mamdani added.
ZOHRAN MAMDANI DODGES QUESTIONS ON MASS SHOOTING AFTER RETURNING FROM AFRICA VACATION
According to Mamdani, after returning to New York City from Uganda, he traveled directly to visit the family of 36-year-old NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was slain in the mass shooting.
He said he had called the family in advance to "ask if that was something that I could do."
"They welcomed me into their home. They refused to let me leave until I had breakfast with them," he said, adding, "They are an embodiment of so much of what makes this city the one that we love."
Mamdani said he visited with the family for close to an hour. He highlighted how Islam and one of the other victims of the shooting, security guard Aland Etienne, were both immigrants.
"It is not lost upon me that both Officer Islam and Aland Etienne were immigrants who came to the city in the hopes of a better life, immigrants whose own sacrifices made it possible for their own family members to have better lives," he said.
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On Monday, a lone gunman, later identified as Shane Tamura, walked into a midtown Manhattan office building and opened fire, killing four people before turning the gun on himself.
The four people killed in the shooting were identified as NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, security guard Aland Etienne and Julia Hyman, an associate at Rudin Management.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear, but the gunman reportedly had a grievance with the NFL, blaming football for his apparent issues with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a side effect from repeated hits to the head.
Mamdani was on vacation for his wedding at the time of the shooting. After the tragedy, his previous criticisms of the NYPD and 2020 calls to defund the police came under renewed scrutiny. He also came under scrutiny for a more recent pledge to "disband" a special NYPD force known as the Strategic Response Group, which is responsible for riots, civil disorder and shootings.
The press conference on Wednesday was the first opportunity for reporters to question Mamdani on these controversial statements.
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In response to a question about a 2020 post mocking a police officer for having a breakdown in his car, Mamdani said, "To be very clear, as I have been over the course of this campaign. I am not defunding the police. I'm not running to defund the police."
He said the post "is out of step with the way in which I not only view police officers, the immense work that they do in this city, but also the seriousness with which we need to treat that work and the difficulties that come with that work."
During the press conference, Mamdani also addressed threats that he has received since becoming a mayoral candidate.
"My life is sadly not the one that it was. There are far more threats," he said. "And with that comes precautions that I wish I didn't have to take. Though they are also precautions that I am immensely grateful for, especially in the example of the NYPD detail that I have here in New York City."
