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Media Blame NYC Shooting Not on Mayor Adams, But on Candidate Mamdani Raina Lipsitz ([link removed])


NYT: Mamdani, After Visiting Slain Officer’s Family, Defends Stance on Police

The New York Times (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) reported that Zohran Mamdani was "facing growing criticism for his absence overseas"—discovering a new rule that mayoral candidates are not supposed to leave the country during a campaign.

Zohran Mamdani’s stunning upset victory in June over frontrunner and former three-term New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary thrilled some and disturbed others. Whether you love him, hate him or never heard of him, Mamdani has not yet won the general election or been sworn in as mayor. But that hasn’t stopped corporate media outlets from blaming him for a horrific mass shooting—that took place while he was out of the country.

On July 28, a 27-year-old Nevada man armed with an assault-style rifle walked into an office building in midtown Manhattan, killed ([link removed]) a New York City police officer, a security guard, a financial executive and a real estate associate, and seriously wounded another person before killing himself. Mamdani was overseas when the shooting took place. He returned to New York City once he learned of it, and traveled directly from JFK Airport to the home of the police officer who was killed to console the man’s family.

Yet in describing Mamdani’s response to the shooting, corporate media outlets have highlighted his absence—for a planned ([link removed]) 10-day vacation in his native Uganda, to celebrate his recent marriage—and linked the shooting to his 2020 support for the "defund the police" movement.


** 'His absence overseas'
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NY Post: Zohran Mamdani, back from Uganda, dodges questions after meeting with slain NYPD cop Didarul Islam’s family

The New York Post (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) scolded Mamdani for not turning a visit to grieving relatives into a press conference.

WABC (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) promoted the idea that because the shooting came “in the middle of a fierce race for mayor of New York City,” it was “only a matter of time before it became the No. 1 issue.” New York magazine (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) similarly wrote that the shooting’s impact is “being felt in the city’s mayoral race,” and has “ignited a contentious debate about public safety among the candidates.”

Mamdani's “absence,” the New York Times (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) declared, “could hardly have been more poorly timed.” The New York Post (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) faulted Mamdani for his "tardy response to the shooting," pointing out that he "finally offered a tweet ([link removed]) 45 minutes after his rivals"—when, it should be noted, it was approximately 4 o'clock in the morning in Kampala.

Media outlets have reported on the response to Mamdani’s trip as if their framing played no role in shaping it. The first sentence of a recent New York Times story (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) noted that Mamdani was “facing growing criticism for his absence overseas.” Fox News (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) ran a critical story under the unsubtle headline, “Zohran Mamdani Dodges Questions About Mass Shooting After Returning From African Vacation.”

Other outlets highlighted the absurdity of castigating Mamdani for taking a planned vacation. AMNY (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) reported that Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, “criticized Mamdani’s absence during the shooting, even though the candidate is not the elected mayor.”

In reporting on right-wing pundits’ responses to the shooting, the New Republic (7/29/25 ([link removed]) ) made a similar point: “Curiously, many attempts to use Monday’s tragedy against Mamdani also treat the Democratic nominee as if he were the current mayor, and as if the violence did not occur under public safety policies already in place.”


** 'Past calls to defund the police'
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CNN: Mamdani confronts his past calls to defund police after an officer’s death in New York

CNN (7/31/25 ([link removed]) ) cited the claims of the current mayor and a three-term governor that the shooting proved the need for more of the current policies.

In addition to being criticized for taking a vacation as a mayoral candidate, Politico (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) wrote, Mamdani “immediately faced backlash…over his past calls to defund the police—after New York City’s deadliest mass shooting in 25 years and the completion of his 11-day vacation to Uganda.” (The New York Times said it was a 10-day ([link removed]) trip.)

CNN (7/31/25 ([link removed]) ) headlined a story “Mamdani Confronts His Past Calls to Defund Police After an Officer’s Death in New York.” It characterized “honoring the deaths of Officer Didarul Islam and three others while addressing his past calls to defund the police department he hopes to oversee as mayor” as “the biggest political test [Mamdani has] faced” since winning the primary.

Reporters peppered him with questions about his “absence,” Politico noted, and his “prior support for defunding the city’s police department.” It wrote that the shooting “raised questions about how Mamdani would lead the force as mayor.”

The New York Times (7/29/25 ([link removed]) ) speculated that the shooting “may lead some to further scrutinize Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, who has relatively limited experience in government and has not handled a high-profile crisis while in office.”


** 'Little NYPD could have done'
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City & State: New York’s strong gun laws didn’t prevent Monday's mass shooting. Local leaders are looking at the feds

When people talked seriously about preventing future mass shootings—as opposed to scoring political points—they called for stronger federal gun laws, not more cops (City & State, 7/29/25 ([link removed]) ).

Efforts to tie Mamdani’s 2020 calls to defund the police to a 2025 mass shooting are nonsensical for several reasons. It’s not clear what the police or New York’s actual mayor, onetime police officer Eric Adams, could have done to prevent the attack. Adams has already put more police officers ([link removed]) on the street, and doubled ([link removed]) NYPD funding, between 2022 and 2024.

Citing law enforcement officials and legal experts, the New York Times (7/29/25 ([link removed]) ) posited that “despite New York’s stringent gun laws and the office building’s tight security…the shooting…may have been all but unstoppable ([link removed]) .” City & State (7/29/25 ([link removed]) ) reported that

New York’s elected leaders have suggested that the onus for a policy response that might prevent similar attacks in the future lies not with the city or state, but with the federal government and other states.

And CNN (7/31/25 ([link removed]) ) wrote that the office building where the shooting occurred

had significant security measures…. An off-duty police officer [was] present, along with other security officers, a lengthy check-in process, locked turnstile gates, lobby alarms, elevators that allowed access only to certain floors, and, as a last resort, reinforced safe rooms.

Politico's piece acknowledged that “there was little the NYPD could have done to stop the shooter," yet still headlined Mamdani's "defund the police" past. It noted that the shooting “resulted in an outpouring of support for the [police] department and its members”—one in which Mamdani, who praised the police ([link removed]) and visited the family of the murdered officer, clearly took part. It seems odd that the shooting would raise questions about the leadership capabilities of a mayoral candidate, as opposed to those of New York’s current mayor.

Moreover, Mamdani did not campaign on a "defund the police" platform. He has repeatedly said that if elected mayor, he will maintain ([link removed]) current NYPD staffing levels, while launching ([link removed]) a new community safety agency to respond to calls about people experiencing mental health crises, so that police officers can focus on fighting violent crime.


** 'Renewed attention'
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CBS: Local News NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani professes admiration for NYPD, distances himself from past social media posts

CBS News New York (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) reported that "Several groups are worried about his left-of-center policies and are raising millions to try and defeat him," including some "worried about his business policies and desire to tax the rich."

Mamdani has vowed to disband ([link removed]) the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG), which was formed as a counter-terrorism unit but quickly evolved also into a brutal counter-protest force ([link removed]) that has drawn sharp scrutiny from a wide variety of rights organizations, including the NYCLU ([link removed]) and Human Rights Watch ([link removed]) . Because the SRG responded to the July 28 shooting—though the shooter killed himself before they arrived—corporate media pressed Mamdani to disavow his stance on the notorious unit.

CBS News New York (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ), for instance, asked Mamdani if his views on the SRG had changed in the wake of the shooting. He said that they have not, and praised the group’s response to the shooting, while noting that it should focus on combating violent crime rather than policing protests.

Fox News (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) reported that the shooting has brought “renewed attention” to Mamdani’s “recent pledge to eliminate the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a key police department responsible for riots, civil disorder and shootings.” But, of course, it’s media organs like Fox News that are driving that attention.
It’s clear that Adams’ strategy—increasing the NYPD budget, putting more officers on the street, and defending private companies’ efforts ([link removed]) to beef up security and hire more armed guards—failed to prevent this shooting. It’s unclear what Mamdani’s decision to take a vacation after a hard-fought primary campaign, and his past and present criticisms of the NYPD, have to do with it.
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Featured image: Fox News coverage (7/30/25 ([link removed]) ) of Zohran Mamdani and the Park Avenue shooting.


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