The wife of fallen NYPD Officer Didarul Islam has given birth to a baby boy at a Manhattan hospital, officials said Monday.
Mayor Adams joined the widow, Jamila Akhter, at Mount Sinai Hospital on Sunday night after she went into labor. He stayed by her side until the delivery.
“We’re really overjoyed,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Monday. “Jamila gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last night.”
The child has been named Arham, according to Tisch.
Mayor Adams added, “We’re really excited. God works in mysterious ways.”
Islam, 36, was one of four people killed in a mass shooting on July 28 at 345 Park Ave. in Midtown Manhattan. Police say the gunman, Shane Tamura, drove from Las Vegas and opened fire immediately after entering the building.
At Islam’s funeral, he was posthumously promoted to NYPD detective. He and Jamila already had two young sons before Arham’s birth.
The tragedy deeply shook Islam’s family. His father, Abdur Rob, suffered a minor heart attack at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell after learning that his only son had been killed. According to NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, Rob cried out that Didarul would never meet his new baby.
Islam had joined the NYPD in 2021 and was assigned to the 47th Precinct in the Bronx. On the day of the shooting, he was in uniform working an authorized security detail at the Park Avenue skyscraper when Tamura stormed in with an assault rifle. Islam was struck several times in the torso.
After killing three others, Tamura shot himself. A suicide note left behind revealed he believed he suffered from CTE, a brain disease often linked to football players, and asked for his brain to be studied.
Tamura, who played high school football, is thought to have targeted the building because it houses the NFL headquarters. One of the victims in the lobby was an NFL employee. Investigators believe Tamura had planned to reach higher floors where NFL offices are located, but instead went to the 33rd floor, where he killed a Rudin Management associate before turning the gun on himself.
