A supply aware of the assembly stated Mamdani met with the Islam household for nearly two hours, together with with Islam’s heartbroken father, who was launched from the hospital Wednesday morning after studying of his son’s homicide and struggling a stroke.
Islam’s mother and father have been making ready their son’s funeral and conventional Muslim burial Thursday and invited Mamdani to attend, an invitation which he accepted. Islam obtained a ceremonial dignified switch Tuesday from the health worker’s workplace to a mosque within the Bronx.
“They thanked me for coming to their home…They are a family that deserves the support of this city, they deserve the support of our leadership and they deserve to be at the center of this story,” Mamdani stated.
Spokespeople for Mayor Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa every stated the respective candidates have been planning to attend Islam’s funeral as properly.
It was Mamdani’s first public look following a 10-day journey to his delivery nation to rejoice his marriage at New York Metropolis Corridor earlier this 12 months.
The Democratic nominee has confronted questions on his previous criticism and calls to “defund” the NYPD, which have been resurfaced by his rivals within the mayor’s race. Earlier on Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams ripped into Mamdani for his claims that he would lower the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG) — the duty pressure that responded to Monday’s lethal mass capturing.
“When you start dismantling the pieces of the law enforcement apparatus that are specifically designed to carry out functions, that is extremely dangerous,” Adams advised CNBC’s Squawk Field.
On the press convention, Mamdani stated the tweets are outdated, and instructed that he has grown and advanced since that point. He has by no means retracted or apologized for any of the earlier statements made in regards to the NYPD or legislation enforcement.
“As I have been over the course of this campaign, I am not defunding the police. I am not running to defund the police,” Mamdani stated Wednesday. “Andrew Cuomo is far more comfortable living his life in the past and then attacking tweets of 2020 than running against the campaign that we have been leading.”
Throughout an interview on CNN Tuesday, Andrew Cuomo stated Mamdani doesn’t perceive the significance of the NYPD. It wasn’t clear if he deliberate to attend Thursday’s funeral.