Mourners honor the NYPD officer killed in the attack at the NFL headquarters building

NEW YORK (AP) — Mourners packed a New York mosque on Thursday to honor a Bangladesh-born police officer who embraced the job of protecting his adopted city and gave his life for it when a gunman opened fire in an office building this week.

Officer Didarul Islam “did believe in the American dream, not as something handed down but as something built with your own hands,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Islam's family and friends as his fellow officers lined up rows deep outside the Bronx house of worship.

Dignitaries and members of the New York's thriving Bangladeshi community also paid tribute to the fallen officer during a memorial that emphasized the importance he placed on his family, background and service to the city.

A married father of two with a third child on the way, the 36-year-old was working a New York Police Department-approved private security detail, in uniform, when he and three other people were killed Monday at the Manhattan skyscraper that houses the NFL's headquarters and other corporate offices.

“To our family, he was our world. To the city, he was a proud NYPD officer who served with compassion and integrity. He lived to help others,” Islam's widow said in a statement that a relative read on her behalf at the service at the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque.

With officers stationed on surrounding rooftops for security, fire trucks used their ladders to hold a huge American flag over a nearby street. A flatbed truck carried a digital billboard showing photos of Islam and a commemorative message from his union.

After coming to the United States, Islam began building a career in the nation’s largest police force. He described policing as “a blanket of the community, there to provide comfort and care," the police commissioner said.

Islam served as a school safety agent before becoming a patrol officer less than four years ago, and he was promoted posthumously Thursday to detective.

“He could have gone into any other occupation he wanted, but he wanted to put on that uniform, and he wanted to protect fellow New Yorkers. And he wanted to let us know that he believed in what this city and what this country stood for,” Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, told the gathering. “That’s the greatest symbol of what we know we are as a country.”

In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt began her daily briefing by expressing President Donald Trump’s condolences to Islam’s family, saying he “made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his fellow New Yorkers.”

Like others who spoke, Imam Zakir Ahmed highlighted the officer's immigrant background and Muslim faith. But said Islam “lived at a time when people like him are too often feared, vilified and made to feel like outsiders.”

“It’s time for New York and America to give back — to see us, to hear us, to protect our dignity, the way Officer Islam protected yours,” Ahmed said.

The eldest of several siblings, Islam supported his parents in Bangladesh, as well as his wife and two young sons in the Bronx, the imam said. The police commissioner said Islam worked a long day at a parade Sunday, then picked up private security hours Monday at the office building.

Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, the commander of the busy Bronx precinct where Islam worked, said he was a “humble, steady and reliable” officer.

“He knew what it meant to protect the place that gave him a new beginning, and in return, he gave everything back,” Ashraf said at Thursday's service.

After the service, the streets filled with people, mostly men, kneeling in prayer. Some Muslim officers took part, as colleagues stood in formation behind them and looked on.

Later, officers saluted as Islam's casket, draped in U.S. and NYPD flags, was brought to a hearse for burial at a cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey.

Mourners also gathered Thursday for the funeral of investment firm executive Wesley LePatner, 43, a married mother of two who was shot in the building’s lobby.

“There’s a huge gaping Mount Everest-size hole in my life right now,” her husband, Evan LePatner, said during his eulogy at Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

More than 500 people attended the funeral, the New York Post reported. LePatner was one of Blackstone’s top executives, specializing in real estate.

Another victim, real estate firm worker Julia Hyman, 27, was mourned at an emotional service Wednesday at the same synagogue located just blocks from where the shooting happened.

Funeral arrangements for the fourth shooting victim, security guard Aland Etienne, have not yet been finalized.

Police identified the gunman as Shane Tamura, a 27-year old former high school football player who most recently worked in a Las Vegas casino's surveillance department. Authorities say he believed he had a brain disease linked to contact sports and accused the NFL of hiding the dangers of playing football.

On Thursday, police said they found more than 800 rounds of ammunition in Tamura's car and had recovered 47 shell casings in the building's lobby and the office floor where Hyman was killed.

Police said Tamura had a history of mental illness, but they haven’t elaborated other than to say they found psychiatric medication prescribed to him at his residence in Las Vegas.

Officials said he was heading for the NFL's office but took the wrong elevator and went by mistake to another floor. The gunfire seriously injured an NFL employee in the lobby.

Islam “saved lives. He was out front,” Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said at Thursday's service. “Others may be alive today because he was the barrier.”

Associated Press reporters Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Pallbearers with the NYPD Ceremonial Unit carry the casket of officer Didarul Islam during his funeral, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Mourners comfort one another as they leave the cemetery after the burial of NYPD officer Didarul Islam in Totowa, N.J., Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Police officers stand at attention as the hearse carrying the casket of officer Didarul Islam passes after his funeral, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Didarul Islam's wife is presented with an American flag after her husband's funeral, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura )

Pallbearers with the NYPD Ceremonial Unit carry the casket of officer Didarul Islam during his funeral, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Police officers salute as the hearse carrying the casket of NYPD officer Didarul Islam passes after his funeral, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura )

New York Police Academy cadets line the street outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque for the funeral of officer Didular Islam, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura )

Women and children gather near the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque before the funeral of officer Didarul Islam, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Police Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, right, of the 47th Precinct is greeted by colleagues outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque before the funeral of officer Didarul Islam, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Women arrive at the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque before the funeral of officer Didarul Islam, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

A New York Police officer greets colleagues and friends before attending the funeral for officer Didarul Islam, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Police officers gather outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque for the funeral of officer Didular Islam, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura )

NYPD officers on motorcycle escorting an ambulance carrying a casket of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam arrive at Parkchester Jame Masjid after Monday's deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Police officers arrive at the NYPD 47th Precinct where NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed Monday, served, in the Bronx borough of New York, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A man holds up a poster in memory of NYPD officer Didarul Islam during a vigil at Bryant Park for the people killed by a gunman at a Manhattan office building the day before, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

This undated image provided by the New York Police Department shows Officer Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed at a Manhattan office building on Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (New York Police Department via AP)

AL HENAKIYAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Ricky Brabec deliberately gave up his motorbike lead over Luciano Benavides in the Dakar Rally while Nasser Al-Attiyah was happy to cruise through another day closer to his sixth car title on Thursday.

Al-Attiyah started 346-kilometer stage 11 between Bisha north to Al Henakiyah with a 12-minute overall lead and let it drop to less than nine minutes over new second-placed driver Nani Roma in a Ford.

Al-Attiyah was content to let Dacia teammate Sébastien Loeb catch up and pass him to have a teammate nearby for any help and to minimize errors on the mazy, dirt track. Al-Attiyah was 17th, nearly 13 minutes behind stage winner Mattias Ekström, and said he needed to execute the same plan on Friday's last effective racing stage before the end on Saturday.

“If we lose two, three, four minutes no problem,” Al-Attiyah said. “We just need to finish this Dakar in first place.”

Honda cooked up a strategy in the Saudi desert for Adrien van Beveren to open the way and let Brabec catch up after the 190-kilometer pit stop and pick up time bonuses.

Brabec boosted his overall lead from 56 seconds to nearly four minutes just 25 kilometers from the finish. He was also within a minute of the stage lead but he slowed down so KTM rival Benavides was the new overall leader, but only by 23 seconds.

Brabec got his his wish to start Friday's stage 12 six minutes behind Benavides, so he can eye him. They head west to the rally starting point of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on 311 kilometers of gravel, some river beds with a finish in the dunes.

“A little bit of strategy today and hopefully it pays off tomorrow,” Brabec said. "I feel like its going to be a good day. We’re going back into the rocks so it will be a little bit better for us.”

Brabec is counting on his experience of winning the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 to trump Benavides, who has a best placing of fourth last year.

“I've been in this situation before,” Brabec said. “For the whole two weeks I've been just trying to stay relax, stay comfortable and just be confident, so two days more. I'm gonna do the same thing tomorrow that I've been doing every day; ride dirt bikes and have fun.”

Van Beveren helped Brabec with navigation while fighting with another teammate, Skyler Howes, the entire day for the stage win.

Howes prevailed by 21 seconds for his first career major stage in his eighth Dakar. He was third in 2023 and sixth last year. He's running fifth, 34 minutes off the pace.

Benavides was fourth in the stage and believed the race will be decided on the final 105-kilometer sprint on Saturday.

“I played no strategy like Ricky. I don't care,” Benavides said. “I'm doing what I can to control what I can control.”

Ekström won his third car stage of this Dakar, a special so fast that 12 other drivers were within 10 minutes.

Ford achieved another 1-2-3 stage. Romain Dumas, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, was a career-best second just over a minute back and Carlos Sainz was third.

Only Toyota's Henk Lategan beat Ekström to a checkpoint but Lategan's podium hopes were wrecked after 140 kilometers when a bearing broke on his rear left wheel. Lategan was second last year and second overall overnight but he plunged out of the top 15, at least.

Loeb moved up to third overall, 10 minutes behind Roma and three minutes ahead of Ekström.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Rider Daniel Sanders competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Rider Skyler Howes competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Driver Henk Lategan, left, and co-driver Brett Cummings repair their car during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Driver Nani Roma and co-driver Alex Haro compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)