New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani faced renewed scrutiny Tuesday for his anti-police rhetoric after his social media posts mourning a slain NYPD officer.
As New York City reels from a deadly mass shooting in midtown Manhattan that killed four, including an NYPD officer, Mamdani attempted to voice solidarity.
Mamdani, who was just married at a guarded compound in Uganda, tweeted Monday, “I’m heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting in Midtown, and I am holding the victims, their families, and the NYPD officer in critical condition in my thoughts. Grateful for all of our first responders on the ground.”
The New York politician also posted Tuesday that the officer, Didarul Islam, was a “Bangladeshi immigrant,” highlighting an anecdote about how, “When he joined the police department, his mother asked him why he would pursue such a dangerous job. He told her it was to leave behind a legacy that his family could be proud of. He has done that, and more. I pray for him, his family, and honor the legacy of service and sacrifice he leaves behind.”
FLASHBACK: ZOHRAN MAMDANI PLEDGED TO ‘DISBAND’ KEY POLICE UNIT THAT HANDLES MASS SHOOTINGS
However, Mamdani’s critics argued these tributes to an officer slain in the line of duty seemed like a cynical shift from his past statements.
New York City councilwoman Inna Vernikov retorted, “Come on, @ZohranKMamdani. Spare us the BS,” along with an image of a Mamdani tweet from June 8, 2020, saying, “No, we want to defund the police.”
“This you?” radio personality Dana Loesch asked as she retweeted his same past call to defund the police.
Another past tweet that particularly caught attention was from a few days after the 2020 election when a user claimed to have seen a policeman crying in his car and Mamdani responded, “Nature is healing.”
Fox News’ Guy Benson shared screenshots of that post as well as one from June 28, 2020, where Mamdani said, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD. But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat. NO to fake cuts – defund the police.”
Benson wrote in response, “There’s a crisis in the city Zohran Mamdani wants to run. A member of its police force, which he deeply despises and wants to defund, has been murdered. He is overseas, reportedly partying at the lavish and heavily-guarded compound his family owns. And yes, he *loathes* NYPD.”
“It’s also interesting that he’s ripped NYPD as ‘anti-queer,’ while holding (one of) his wedding celebration(s) in a country where gays are punished for existing by some combination of lengthy imprisonment & execution. He’s also very concerned about ‘human rights’ in the Jewish state, of course,” he added.
Political commentator David J. Freeman, better known as “Gunther Eagleman,” resurfaced the tweet and replied to a Mamdani post, “Imagine how many brothers in Blue were mourning the loss of a brother today and see this post. You are f—–g pathetic.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment and did not receive an immediate reply.