On 2 NYPD fatal shootings, Mamdani waits to speak about incidents in Brooklyn and Manhattan

It’s ordinary for a New York City mayor, reacting to news of a fatal shooting by NYPD officers, to withhold substantive comment, await an investigation and speak of the dangers faced by officers confronting someone who is armed.

But the new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is a rarity among the men who have held his post: a persistent police critic who once described police as wicked, comments for which he apologized on the campaign trail.

On Friday, Mamdani said he’s awaiting the results of investigations into two fatal police shootings the same night. In one, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, an NYPD officer or officers shot and killed an emotionally disturbed man who allegedly charged at officers, in a blood-splattered hospital room, with a sharp object. In the other, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, the NYPD shot and killed a man brandishing what turned out to be a fake gun as he tried to escape a car crash.

"Last night, officers were put in a difficult and dangerous situation, and I continue to appreciate the work that they do every single day in New York City to keep New Yorkers safe, and I also recognize the immense difficulty that comes with that responsibility, and I appreciate the work," Mamdani said at an unrelated event on Friday morning in Brooklyn.

Mamdani said he was briefed soon after the incidents but waited until mid-morning Friday to issue a statement on the shootings — posted first to social media — because he wanted to speak authoritatively and accurately.

"I take it very seriously, the language that I use, and I think that in a situation such as this, you have to be very intentional in what you share."

Asked about anonymous rumors that the time elapsed between the shooting and his statement had created a fissure with his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, Mamdani denied any existed.

"My interaction continues to be that of which it is on a daily basis, which is a constant interaction with the NYPD and with the police commissioner as well," Mamdani said.

It wasn’t the first time Mamdani, who as an ordinary New Yorker and then as state assemblyman was once a prodigious police critic, was circumspect this week when asked about the police.

Earlier this week, when asked about the disclosure of body camera footage of cops shooting and killing a man in Queens in December, Mamdani said: "It’s incredibly heartbreaking to witness, and I know that the police department is commencing an investigation into this incident and I look forward to seeing the results." 

He said nothing more.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.