NYPD officers shot and killed a man who police say charged at them with a butcher knife inside a Lower East Side apartment building Sunday afternoon, according to police.
Officers responded to the building around 4 p.m. following multiple 911 calls reporting a domestic dispute, assault, and a person armed with a weapon. When officers arrived, they found blood on the stairs inside the building, according to authorities.
As officers followed the blood trail up the stairwell, they encountered a man carrying a large butcher knife. Police repeatedly ordered the man to show his hands and drop the weapon, but he continued moving toward the officers, according to the NYPD.
Officers first deployed a Taser, which had no effect. They then fired at least four times, striking the man in the chest, police said. The man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to <a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/police-shoot-man-charged-nypd-officer-knife-lower-east-side-sources-say/19688831/">ABC7</a>. He was later identified as 54-year-old Wei Chan. Police recovered the knife at the scene.
A second man, 75-year-old Cheung Chan, was found inside the building with a laceration to the head. Police identified him as Chan&#8217;s father and said the injury was inflicted by his son. He is expected to survive. It was not immediately clear whether the wound came from the knife or another object, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/08/16/us-news/knife-wielding-nyc-maniac-shot-critically-injured-after-charging-at-cops/">per</a> the New York Post.
Four responding officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian, <a href="https://pix11.com/news/local-news/nypd-involved-shooting-on-lower-east-side-sends-6-to-hospital-officials/">according</a> to police and fire officials.
A patron at a nearby bar <a href="https://www.amny.com/news/breaking-news-nypd-lower-east-side/">told</a> amNewYork that he saw crews performing CPR on a man as they carried him out of the building on a stretcher and into an ambulance.
The circumstances leading up to the confrontation remain under investigation.

Stabbing attack investigation in Manhattan

NYPD Shoots, Kills Man Who Lunged At Officers With Butcher Knife

New York

New York City

New York Police Department (NYPD)

NYPD

Police

Violent Crime

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin condemned what she described as an &#8220;apparent antisemitic stabbing&#8221; Thursday after two men were stabbed in separate attacks on Manhattan&#8217;s Upper West Side.
&#8220;The fear in the Jewish community is real. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, regardless of their faith or identity,&#8221; Menin said in a statement, thanking the NYPD for quickly apprehending the suspect.
According to CBS News, the stabbings occurred at approximately 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Police said the first victim, a 57-year-old man, was found with a stab wound to the torso near West 84th Street and Central Park West. A second victim, a 50-year-old man, was found several blocks away near West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, also suffering a stab wound to the torso.
Both men were transported to a local hospital and are expected to survive. Police said one of the victims is Asian, and the other is Jewish. 
A source near the scene told The Daily Wire that one of the victims was wearing a kippah and had just left afternoon Jewish prayer services before the attack. 
He was stabbed in the right side of his chest, according to The Times of Israel, which cited the victim&#8217;s rabbi. The rabbi said he spoke with the victim after the attack, who recalled hearing screams before &#8220;everything went blank for him.&#8221; The victim is in stable condition and is expected to be released before Shabbat, the rabbi told the outlet.
The stabbings occurred on Tisha B&#8217;Av, the Jewish day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies throughout Jewish history.
After the suspect was taken into custody, Manhattan Shomrim, a volunteer Jewish neighborhood watch organization, shared a photo on Instagram that it identified as the alleged attacker. The image shows a tall, thin man with gray hair wearing a camouflage T-shirt and black pants being led away by police.
The Anti-Defamation League&#8217;s New York/New Jersey office said its security partners had been told that two men, &#8220;at least one visibly Jewish,&#8221; were attacked by a man whom witnesses allege shouted, &#8220;Allahu Akbar.&#8221;
&#8220;This kind of violence has no place in NYC and must be immediately condemned and investigated,&#8221; the ADL said, adding that it is working with the NYPD and community partners to gather more information and support those affected. The organization also called on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to take action.
Later on Thursday, Mamdani took to social media and confirmed the NYPD is &#8220;evaluating these stabbings as potential hate crimes.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I have been briefed on today’s horrifying stabbings on the Upper West Side, where an Asian man and a Jewish man were attacked. According to witness and victim statements, the perpetrator yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks. I am relieved that both victims are in stable… <a href="https://t.co/0LSGtvPojx">https://t.co/0LSGtvPojx</a>
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2080420241557835992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2026</a></blockquote>
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According to police, the suspect fled following the attacks before entering an apartment building on Amsterdam Avenue between West 88th and West 89th streets, where he barricaded himself inside an apartment. The NYPD Emergency Service Unit responded and negotiated with the suspect before taking him into custody at approximately 2:45 p.m. He was transported to a police station for questioning.
According to police sources cited by CBS News, the suspect has seven prior arrests, including two drug-related arrests dating back to 1991.
Police have not said whether they are investigating the attacks as a hate crime.

IMG_5382

NYC Stabbing Attack Sparks Fear Of Another Antisemitic Attack

Anti-Defamation League

antisemitism

Asian American

Jewish Americans

Jews

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani compromised with City Council Speaker Julie Menin on the city’s $126 billion 2027 budget and has visibly left out accommodations for the city’s police force.
“We balanced this budget without resorting to austerity. We protected the services New Yorkers rely on, while restoring honesty to the City’s finances,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani <a href="https://council.nyc.gov/press/2026/06/30/3151/">said</a> in a statement. “We accelerated the affordability agenda by investing in housing, mental health services, parks, libraries, and students of all ages. This agreement proves that fiscal responsibility and public excellence can go hand in hand.” 
The Department of Education is expected to get the lion’s share of the budget, with $37.9 billion earmarked for the department. The Department of Social Services will receive $14.6 billion, compared to only $6.6 billion in funding for the Police Department.
The new budget gives $86.4 million to NYC immigration services that will resist Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigration, and $53 million for a $1,000 college voucher to every public school kindergartener, along with spending to renovate &#8220;cultural institutions.&#8221; No money was given to recruit officers into the NYPD’s ever-shrinking police force.
Mamdani backed away from his campaign promise to freeze New York Police Department staff levels, proposing to add 580 new officers. In response, about 50 officials and advocates, including Mamdani’s local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, came to City Hall to protest Mamdani’s turnaround.
The agreed-upon budget shows that the mayor has caved to activist demands to weaken the NYPD. 
The president of the NYPD’s largest uniformed union, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), stated the anti-police protesters are not “living in reality” and wished the mayor had kept to his new decision to hire more police officers.
“Our police officers are already overstretched, working long hours with few days off and managing record crowds during one of the busiest periods our city has ever seen,” PBA President Patrick Hendry <a href="https://www.amny.com/new-york/activists-mamdani-hiring-more-nypd-officers-budget/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSwuidleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE0emlVOTBDWDFsdldaYW85c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsBXTdxQ0b3GUz6R-9XMEc567TNFNS0MC6CzOoHvVjgTdyGbtdrRe10W3Gvf_aem_Jolk9xVKbSIN5cnXbM1Jbg">told</a> amNewYork. &#8220;Cops are burning out and leaving by hundreds each month, increasing the burden on those who remain.&#8221;
The Comptroller’s Office <a href="https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/press-releases/nyc-comptroller-levine-releases-new-report-on-persistently-high-nypd-overtime-costs-proposes-reforms-to-improve-oversight-and-controls/">found</a> that $26.4 million was spent on overtime, with police officers having to be dispatched to planned events, such as &#8220;parades, details, and quality of life initiatives,&#8221; and hopes to arrange staff schedules to mitigate the overtime. 
New York has <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/PR006/nypd-fewest-murders-shooting-incidents-recorded-history-first-three-months-the">announced</a> the fewest murders and shooting incidents in the first quarter in recorded history. Year-to-date, New York City <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/crime-statistics/citywide-crime-stats.page">reports</a> 20.9% fewer murders and 18.8% less retail theft. This is reportedly due to the NYPD’s data analysis that targets problem areas in the city. This service costs the city $300 million annually, and there was no mention of increasing its budget in the 2027 proposal.
On the campaign trail, the mayor promised to create a $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety that would take over the task of answering mental health-related 911 calls from the NYPD, and has since launched a smaller $260 million Mayor’s Office of Community Safety, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/25/us-news/activists-rip-mamdani-for-boosting-nypd-headcount-breaking-police-crackdown-campaign-pledge/">reports</a>.
Mamdani and Menin were gridlocked in a debate for the past week about whether to expand access to the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/30/us-news/mamdani-nyc-council-reach-handshake-deal-on-colossal-125b-budget-without-nypd-expansion/">reports</a>. 
Mamdani, pragmatically aware of the budget constraints and bipartisan national scrutiny, opted to take a fiscally conservative approach and not expand access. Menin, a moderate Democrat, took the approach that the CityFHEPS program should be expanded to people at risk of eviction, even if it costs the city $3 billion to $4 billion extra per year, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/nyregion/budget-mamdani-housing-cityfheps.html">states</a>.
“The CityFHEPS rental assistance program is a lifeline for 65,000 of the most vulnerable New Yorkers — but it could and should be serving thousands more,” Menin <a href="https://x.com/speakermenin/status/2070596039867047963?">said</a> in an X post.
Councilwoman Julie Won called Mamdani’s position “a deep betrayal to New Yorkers in the system looking for support to restore their lives,” and <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/29/us-news/mayor-zohran-mamdani-city-council-deadlocked-on-nyc-budget-deal/">joined</a> Menin in pressuring the mayor, according to the New York Post. 
 
The new budget shows Mamdani has expanded the funding of FHEPS by $125 million to her proposed $300 million allocation. Now families who earn half the median area income would be able to apply to CityFHEPS, moving the limit for a family of three from $54,000 to up to $76,000.
Former mayor Eric Adams also resisted the CityFHEPS expansion, vetoing the proposed legislation and suing the city council when they overturned the veto. 
Mamdani, in the new budget, has agreed to implement the CityFHEPS expansion and also drop Adams’ lawsuit
Last week, the NYPD and FBI executed search warrants at the homes of current and former NYPD officials, former NYPD chief spokesperson Tarik Sheppard, and NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy, Optimum News 12 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hsoI6xFHk.">reported</a>.
“I promised New Yorkers that under my leadership the NYPD would conduct itself with integrity,” said Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “This investigation and our actions this morning are part of the ongoing effort to fulfill that commitment and hold the Department to its highest ideals.” 
“Our government should serve the public with integrity. Any corruption would amount to a serious violation of responsibility within the NYPD and a breach in public trust. Commissioner Tisch has already shown a real commitment to cracking down on corruption and ensuring that the public servants in the NYPD are held to the highest standards,” Tisch said. 
Mamdani was only able to balance the budget because the city received a $4 billion grant from Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY), City and State New York <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2026/06/mamdani-menin-shake-126b-nyc-budget/414529/?oref=csny-homepage-river">reports</a>.

Screenshot 2026-06-30 at 11.37.38 AM

Mamdani Leaves NYPD Out To Dry As City Council Reaches Massive Budget Deal

Budget

Julie Menin

Zohran Mamdani

Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood at One Police Plaza and acknowledged that anti-Jewish hate crimes comprise more than half of all hate crimes in his city, even though Jews are only about 10% of the population. Yet when asked what message he wanted to send, he offered nothing more than a platitude about everyone belonging and everyone being cherished.
That gap between data and response is not merely political. It may become legal, and could become deadly.
Mamdani has staked his public safety reputation on precision policing, a data-driven strategy that deploys resources where the numbers point. It is a sensible approach, and the overall crime figures reflect it. But precision policing has a logical corollary: if the data shows one community absorbing 55% of hate crimes – more than five times their share of the population — a generic response is not neutral. When a strategy is explicitly driven by data about where crime is concentrated and who is being victimized, a deliberate decision to not respond with equivalent precision begins to look less like oversight and more like selective indifference. Mamdani’s approach presents three overlapping legal problems for the city.
The first is Equal Protection. Although the government may exercise discretion in enforcing the law, it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment when a motivating factor in its failure to protect people from crime is invidious discrimination against a protected group, such as Jews or Israelis.
Mamdani’s public record already evinces a pattern and practice of such discrimination.
From the first days of his administration, Mamdani made a series of choices all pointing in the same direction: reduced protection for Jews and Israelis against rising antisemitic hate crimes. Mamdani deleted official statements about protecting Jewish New Yorkers, rescinded the city’s IHRA-based antisemitism order, and folded the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes into a broader Office of Community Safety. He also offers a constant drumbeat of anti-Israel propaganda, complete with false claims of genocide, apartheid, and racism, having the purpose and effect of fomenting hatred against both Jews and Israelis.
The Mayor insists that antisemitism be viewed in tandem with a purportedly equivalent threat to Muslims, his favored religious constituency, while touting a 140% rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes. But that is a false equivalence, reflecting deliberate indifference to the magnitude of the peril faced by Jews in New York. In the first quarter of 2026, Muslims were the targets of 12 (8.4%) confirmed hate crimes, representing an estimated 10% share of the population of New York City. The share of hate crimes did increase for Muslims, but from only five incidents in the first quarter of 2025. In all of 2025, according to the NYPD, Jews in New York were the victims of 324 hate crimes — over six per week — constituting 57.6% of the total, while 26 hate crimes targeted Muslims, 4.6% of the total. To insist that these are equivalent threats bespeaks sectarian bias not fairness.
The second problem for the city is municipal liability for that discriminatory failure to protect under Monell v. Department of Social Services. Under the Monell doctrine, a city can be sued directly when a constitutional violation flows from an official policy or custom. Monell cases are usually slow to build, because a pattern and practice of deliberate indifference usually takes a while to develop. Mamdani is an exception. He is constructing a record against the city, in public, in real time. Every statement minimizing antisemitism, every decision to dilute targeted protections, every press conference where he recites the numbers and then changes the subject, is a tile in the Monell mosaic. The evidentiary foundation for a Monell claim against the city is being delivered from the Mayor&#8217;s podium.
The third looming implication for the city is federal liability. Under 34 U.S.C. §12601, the Department of Justice has authority to investigate and sue local law enforcement agencies for engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of constitutional rights. This statute has been used for decades to go after cities that over-police minority communities. There is no legal reason it cannot work in the opposite direction, against a city that systematically under-protects one. The federal government could also withdraw funding from the city for law enforcement programs (or even more broadly), or seek refunds of prior grants, on the grounds that the city is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applies to all federal grant recipients.
A formal complaint to the DOJ Civil Rights Division, grounded in the NYPD&#8217;s published hate crime data, calling for an investigation into New York City&#8217;s response to antisemitic hate crimes, would be unprecedented. It would also be legally sound. The data and public course of conduct by Mamdani are more than enough to suggest the sort of pattern and practice that warrants the federal scrutiny of an in-depth DOJ investigation.
Of course, the NYPD does not ignore these crimes entirely. Commissioner Tisch, to her credit, has often spoken about the issue. But when the policymaker at the top repeatedly signals that anti-Jewish targeting will be met with indifference and abstraction rather than attention and action or raises “concerns” about even modest efforts to stop protesters from besieging Jewish worshippers, or announces that if he cannot get the Commissioner to agree to dismantle the Strategic Response Group he will simply overrule her, that travels down the chain of command to impact how scenes are policed, and how cases are classified, investigated, prioritized, and deterred.
Nor must the legal record wait until the worst facts arrive. Thankfully, where plaintiffs can show a cognizable threat of ongoing unequal treatment, declaratory and injunctive remedies may be available before irreparable harm is inflicted. If we build the record now, there is still time for a course correction before even more crimes occur.
Mayor Mamdani said the numbers tell an indisputable story. He is right. The story they tell is that Jewish New Yorkers are the most targeted minority in the city he governs, that hate crimes are a rising threat, and that his response has been at best, generic, and at worst, corrosively hostile.
Equal protection means something. Monell means something. Federal authority over civil rights means something. The law does not wait for a mayor to get around to caring, and neither should we.
* * *
Dr. Mark Goldfeder is the CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a professor at Touro Law School.
Alan Scheiner is Senior Litigation Counsel at the National Jewish Advocacy Center.

New NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Makes An Announcement In Brooklyn

The Numbers Tell One Story. The Mayor’s Response Tells Another

14th Amendment

Democratic Socialism

Discrimination

DW Opinion

Hate Crime

Israel

Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani (D-NYC) raised eyebrows with a recent addition to his transition team: sociology professor and author of &#8220;The End of Policing,&#8221; Alex Vitale.
Mamdani had to dial back his own anti-police rhetoric during his mayoral campaign, apologizing to New York City police officers for previous comments when prompted by Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, but his selection of Vitale appears to be a sign that he&#8217;s reverting back to his original positions.
&#8220;I&#8217;m excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Mamdani Transition Team to work on community safety issues. A New Era for NYC,&#8221; Vitale <a href="https://x.com/avitale/status/1993053108663198202">announced via X</a> on Sunday.
As critics quickly pointed out, Vitale&#8217;s position has always been decidedly anti-cop. His book, &#8220;The End of Policing,&#8221; imagines a word where &#8220;modern policing&#8221; is broadly replaced by a combination of decriminalization and community empowerment. He argues that policing is designed to reinforce inequality, and that giving police officers diversity training is not enough to bridge the gap.
He has called for the decriminalization of offenses such as prostitution and drug use, and advocates for private corporations or government programs that would provide permanent housing for the homeless population. In addition, he has repeatedly attacked Israel, claiming that Israelis are &#8220;occupying&#8221; land belonging to Palestinians — and tied that in to his negative views on policing as well, complaining that American police should not be training with Israelis: &#8220;I’m not happy with these exchanges of policing to Israel. Israel is engaged in an occupation.&#8221;
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Video circulated of Vitale, in an interview, referring to police as &#8220;violence workers&#8221; and adding, &#8220;if you don’t want racism and violence, don’t get the police involved.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 New Mamdani Transition Team Member Says Cops Are “Violence Workers” and NYPD–Israel Training Trips “Pervert American Politics”
Alex Vitale — author of The End of Policing, sociology professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY Graduate Center, and now officially part of Zohran… <a href="https://t.co/n6REJNfbjH">pic.twitter.com/n6REJNfbjH</a>
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) <a href="https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1993101611804049914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The overall assessment, as shared by a number of people via X, is that Mamdani had simply reverted to the same anti-police, anti-Israel socialist that his opposition had spent the entire campaign warning people he was.
&#8220;The biggest risk of a Mamdani mayorship? Mass exodus from the NYPD. This occurred in SF under the radical left DA, Chesa Boudin. When police aren&#8217;t supported, they quit, retire early, or never join in the first place,&#8221; one <a href="https://x.com/michelletandler/status/1943321480466424104">posted</a>.
&#8220;Huge step backwards for Mamdani. This guy wants to defund and abolish policing. You can find him wherever prep school lefties congregate, zero working class New Yorkers adhere to these ideas,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/lhfang/status/1993123594474566090">another added</a>.

Residents Cast Ballots In New York City Mayoral Election

Mamdani Names ‘End Of Policing’ Author Who Called Cops ‘Violence Workers’ To Transition Team

Crime

Defund The Police

Politics

Socialism

Five years ago, as a state assemblyman, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani called to defund the police. Today, he supports funding the department, but not expanding its ranks, putting himself at odds with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s repeated warnings.
&#8220;The reason I made the decision to retain commissioner Tisch is because of the importance of outcomes,” stated the 34-year-old New York City mayor-elect on Sunday&#8217;s &#8220;Meet the Press.&#8221; &#8220;The fact that she has been able to deliver on rooting out corruption while lowering crime is something to be celebrated, and I think the commissioner and I have been very clear that what brings us together is a shared importance of public safety &#8212; I think we can do that with the officers we have.&#8221;
Tisch, however, argues the very outcomes Mamdani retained her for happened &#8220;against all odds.&#8221;
&#8220;The crime reductions we saw last year were achieved against all odds and are entirely attributable to the hard work and the grit of New York&#8217;s finest,&#8221; she said in a January press conference. &#8220;The deck has been completely stacked against our cops.&#8221;
Tisch points to low staffing levels and a justice system that &#8220;prioritizes offenders over victims,&#8221; making officers’ jobs far more difficult. Her plan to sustain the city’s gains emphasizes hiring more police and confronting what she calls &#8220;surging recidivism,&#8221; which is when repeat offenders cycle through the system.
Alongside Mayor Eric Adams in November, Tisch supported a plan to fund 5,000 additional New York Police Department officers with a goal of reaching a 40,000-member force by fiscal year 2029.
Mamdani insists the force should stay at 35,000.
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&#8220;I’ve said over the course of the campaign that I think the number we’ve had budgeted of 35,000 officers is a sufficient number,&#8221; he said. &#8220;What we have to do, however, is to allow those officers to focus on policing.&#8221;
Mamdani noted the New York Police Department responds to 200,000 mental health calls a year. He plans to build a Department of Community Safety and &#8220;task it with the mental health crisis, the homelessness crisis, and allow officers to focus on serious crimes&#8230;&#8221;
Tisch argues that lasting progress requires fixing legislation. &#8220;The key driving factor is the revolving door of our criminal justice system, created in large part by legislative changes that took effect in 2020.&#8221;
Tisch has repeatedly spotlighted high-profile cases of recidivism, including a career criminal who allegedly robbed a Queens deli at gunpoint before shooting a New York Police Department officer and an innocent bystander. The suspect had 17 prior arrests, many occurring while on lifetime parole.
&#8220;Imagine how disheartening it is for our cops to be out there arresting the same people for the same crimes in the same neighborhoods day after day,&#8221; the commissioner said.
The Trump administration backs Mamdani’s decision to keep Jessica Tisch as New York City’s police commissioner.
Trump’s National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett recently said, &#8220;We are really reassured that [Mamdani has] kept the police commissioner. In previous administrations in New York, we have seen law and order really go South.&#8221;

NYPD Commissioner Wants More Police, Mamdani Says Current Number ‘Sufficient’

Elections

Law Enforcement

With conservatives justifiably in despair over the election of Marxist-Islamist Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, it is vitally important to remember that Mamdani has promised to eliminate the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG), which works hand in hand with the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau (CTB).
Last December, Mamdani wrote on X, “As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their first amendment [sic] rights.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today the NYPD deployed the Strategic Response Group (SRG) to harass + arrest striking <a href="https://twitter.com/Teamsters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@teamsters</a>.
As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their first amendment rights.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1869848787201532169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams has <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/11/05/us-news/nyc-jewish-groups-vow-to-hold-zohran-mamdani-accountable/">ripped</a> Mamdani for his suggestion, declaring, “When you start dismantling the pieces of the law enforcement apparatus that is specifically designed to carry out functions — that is extremely dangerous. A lack of knowledge and understanding of these roles really could harm law enforcement. There are no routine jobs in the police department. They can turn violent instantly. So I think it’s the wrong decision to do and we should never endanger public safety in the city. It’s not an experiment, it’s experience.”
The NYPD’s SRG was created in 2015 under the department’s Citywide Operations Bureau. It coordinates with NYPD’s CTB, which was founded in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks, in which radical Islamic terrorists killed roughly 3,000 Americans and destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City.
When the NYPD receives credible terrorist threats, the CTB assesses them and leads the response. The SRG is then deployed to provide tactical manpower — heavily armed, mobile teams trained for rapid containment, evacuations, or securing perimeters. The CTB provides the intelligence and threat analysis, while SRG provides tactical and crowd control capacity. SRG officers receive counterterrorism briefings and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) response training through CTB programs.
“The CT Bureau reviews possible terrorist targets and develops innovative, forward-thinking policies and procedures to guard against attacks, training first responders and specialized units and developing intelligence capabilities for detecting and preventing terrorist attacks,” the CTB’s website <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/investigative/counterterrorism.page?utm_source=chatgpt.com">states</a>. “The bureau coordinates with federal, state, and other law enforcement agencies in intelligence gathering and sharing, and plays an integral role in the FBI&#8217;s Joint Terrorist Task Force.”
“Joint Terrorist Task Force (JTTF) is a multi-law enforcement agency that includes NYPD detectives and FBI special agents who investigate terrorism in the New York City metropolitan area and around the world,” the website continues. “Following the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD substantially increased the number of detectives assigned to the JTTF. This partnership with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies provides the NYPD with access to national level classified intelligence and the ability to analyze and share its own intelligence on the federal level.”
If the CTB discovers a terrorist cell, the SRG may prove vital in supplying the forces to target the terrorists.
And Mamdani wants to eliminate the SRG.

US-POLITICS-VOTE-NEW YORK-MAMDANI

While Threats Loom, Mamdani Vows To Axe Key Anti-Terror NYPD Unit

Terrorism

Refusing to recant his previous statement from 2020 that called for defunding the police, New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gave an evasive answer when asked if he wished he hadn’t made such a comment.
Mamdani has been elusive about his “defunding the police” statements after a mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan left four people dead, including an NYPD officer. Earlier this week, he stated, “I am not running to defund the police.”
Yet when he was asked on Wednesday by a reporter at the leftist 32BJ Service Employees International Union headquarters, “Do you wish you hadn’t said some of those things a few years back?”, Mamdani replied, “My statements in 2020 were ones made amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd and the inability to deliver on what Eric Adams, of all people, described as the right for all of us to be able to enjoy safety and justice, that we need not choose between the two.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Mamdani is asked point-blank if he wishes he hadn’t called to defund the police. 
He doesn’t say “yes.” 
That’s utterly disqualifying. <a href="https://t.co/Ylep2q2caI">pic.twitter.com/Ylep2q2caI</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1950637509316378885?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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As recently as last December, Mamdani tweeted, “Today the NYPD deployed the Strategic Response Group (SRG) to harass + arrest striking @teamsters. As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their first amendment (sic) rights.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today the NYPD deployed the Strategic Response Group (SRG) to harass + arrest striking <a href="https://twitter.com/Teamsters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@teamsters</a>. 
As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their first amendment rights.
&mdash; Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1869848787201532169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“The SRG is one of the NYPD’s special operations units, which, according to the force’s official website, specializes in disorder response, crime suppression and crowd control and ‘responds to citywide mobilizations, civil disorders, and major events with highly trained personnel and specialized equipment,’” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-zohran-mamdani-pledged-disband-key-police-unit-handles-mass-shootings">Fox News</a> noted.
In 2020, Mamdani posted tweets calling for the defunding of police with <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/30/us-news/zohran-mamdani-doubles-down-on-disbanding-nypd-unit-that-responded-to-nyc-shooting-but-backs-off-unpopular-defund-stance/">these statements</a>:
<blockquote>
Our police: threatening the physical safety of politicians who oppose their agenda. Our prosecutors: turning their own offices into super-spreader event because of all their COVID truthers. The entire carceral system is an unreformable public health hazard. Defund and dismantle.
Together, we can tax the rich, heal the sick, house the poor, defund the police &amp; build a socialist New York. Solidarity forever.
We don&#8217;t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer &amp; 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 &#8211; defund the police.
@NYCSpeakerCoJo: &#8220;The Mayor promised to spend the same amount on cops in schools, but pay for it with different money.&#8221;@NYCMayor spokesperson: &#8220;Actually we never even promised that!&#8221; None of these people are fit to lead. We need a socialist city council to defund the police.
</blockquote>
One police source commented, “People are fools to believe he will help the city. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Zohran Mamdani comments on mass shooting in New York

‘A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’: Socialist Mamdani Won’t Recant Anti-NYPD Remarks

Mayor

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

A New York man was indicted on Tuesday for allegedly constructing several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that he intended to detonate in Manhattan. 
The Justice Department announced charges against Michael Gann, 55, of Inwood, New York, for allegedly placing at least five IEDs and shotgun shells on the rooftops of residential apartment buildings in the SoHo neighborhood and throwing one IED onto subway tracks on the Williamsburg Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan. 
“The safety of New Yorkers is paramount,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “As alleged, Michael Gann built explosive devices, stored them on a rooftop in SoHo, and threw one onto the subway tracks—putting countless lives at risk.  Thanks to swift work by our law enforcement partners, no one was harmed.  That vigilance assuredly prevented a tragedy in New York.”
Gann has been charged with attempted destruction of property by explosive means, transportation of explosive devices, and unlawful possession of explosive devices. He could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted on all counts. 
According to investigators, Gann constructed the IEDs with chemicals, wires, and other materials he ordered on the internet beginning in May 2025. He was planning to combine shotgun shells with the explosive devices, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/media/1408701/dl?inline">indictment</a> said. One of the devices contained 600 times the legal limit for explosive powder in fireworks.  
Sometime in May or June, Gann searched on the internet: “will i pass a background check,” &#8220;clorine bomb,” “black powder nearby,” “½ stick dynamite,” and other similar queries. 
On March 26, 2025, an X account identified as belonging to Gann posted: “Dear @POTUS, I’m thinking just now here in NYC that it’s too bad that the wall wasn’t built before the National Guard would have to come here for Protests and Riotation or would you just drop a bomb on this place while because they seem to be coming and coming?”
<div id="attachment_950791" style="width: 983px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-950791" class="size-full wp-image-950791" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-23-at-7.06.45%E2%80%AFAM.png" alt="" width="973" height="662" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-23-at-7.06.45%E2%80%AFAM.png 973w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-23-at-7.06.45%E2%80%AFAM-300x204.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-23-at-7.06.45%E2%80%AFAM-847x576.png 847w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-23-at-7.06.45%E2%80%AFAM-768x523.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 973px) 100vw, 973px" />IED on subway track/DOJ.</div>
Gann was arrested on June 5, and he allegedly lied about the location of one of the devices, according to the indictment. That was the same day investigators say he posted on Instagram: “Who wants me to go out to play like no tomorrow?
The investigation was led by the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI, which included members of the New York Police Department, the ATF, and the Nassau County Police Department. 
“Michael Gann allegedly produced multiple improvised explosive devices intended for use in Manhattan,” said FBI agent Christopher Raia.  “Due to the successful partnership of law enforcement agencies in New York, Gann was swiftly brought to justice before he could harm innocent civilians shortly after his dangerous actions became known.”

Lower Manhattan skyline during the blue hour with Hudson River in the foreground

Feds Indict New York Man For Plot To Detonate Homemade Bombs In Manhattan

domestic terrorism

Manhattan

U.S.

Luigi Mangione, who faces federal murder charges after the December shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Friday.
Mangione appeared in Manhattan federal court in a prison jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, entering not guilty pleas to charges of murder, two counts of stalking, and a firearms offense.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the DOJ intends to pursue the death penalty in the case, causing Mangione&#8217;s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, to request that the court prioritize starting his federal trial before his state cases in New York and Pennsylvania, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/us/luigi-mangione-federal-charges/index.html">reported</a>.
According to authorities, Mangione “<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-directs-prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-luigi-mangione">murdered</a>” Thompson, a father of two young children, in a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination” as an act of “political violence.”
Thompson was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, leading to a five-day manhunt that ended with Mangione&#8217;s arrest in Pennsylvania, more than 270 miles from the shooting scene.
At the time of his arrest, Mangione possessed “fake ID used by the suspect, the gun they believe was used in the shooting and a handwritten ‘claim of responsibility,’ authorities have said,” according to CNN.
Mangione&#8217;s targeting of Thompson appears meticulously planned, according to the DOJ, and three 9mm shell casings recovered from the crime scene had the words &#8220;delay,&#8221; &#8220;deny,&#8221; and &#8220;depose&#8221; written on them, an apparent reference to a 2010 book criticizing insurance industry tactics, according to the NYPD.
The case has sparked considerable public attention, with supporters of Mangione gathering outside the courthouse Friday, some wearing green, referencing Nintendo&#8217;s &#8220;Luigi&#8221; character, and holding banners with messages like &#8220;Luigi Before Fascists&#8221; and &#8220;Stop the Violence: End the Death Penalty Now.&#8221;
Chelsea Manning, the former Army soldier convicted of violating the Espionage Act after leaking documents to WikiLeaks, has appeared at multiple hearings in support of Mangione.
Many people, according to CNN, seem to be channeling their frustration with the health care system through Mangione, with some going as far as calling him a vigilante.
A legal defense fund in Mangione&#8217;s name has raised more than $950,000 from supporters.
Mainstream politicians have condemned Mangione&#8217;s alleged actions. &#8220;In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,&#8221; Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the day Mangione was arrested, adding, &#8220;He is no hero.&#8221;
Judge Margaret Garnett scheduled Mangione&#8217;s next federal hearing for December 5, when a trial date will be set. She indicated she expects the trial to begin in 2026.

Insurance CEO Murder Suspect Luigi Mangione Is Extradicted To New York

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty As DOJ Seeks Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Department of Justice

Luigi Mangione

Pam Bondi

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is facing more distractions following the resignation of former Commissioner Edward Caban last week as its new interim commissioner, Thomas Donlon, was raided by the FBI late last week.
&#8220;On Friday, September 20, federal authorities executed search warrants at my residences,&#8221; Donlon said in a statement late on Saturday. &#8220;They took materials that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department.&#8221;
&#8220;This is not a department matter, and the department will not be commenting,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Statement from the Police Commissioner: <a href="https://t.co/K0talEghOc">pic.twitter.com/K0talEghOc</a>
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1837693715655110957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/09/21/us-news/nypd-interim-police-commissioner-thomas-donlon-home-raided-by-feds/">reported</a> that the investigation into Donlon appears to center around whether he took classified material while he worked at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
At the FBI, Donlon was the head of the FBI’s National Threat Assessment Center and the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Post added. At DHS, Donlon was the director of New York&#8217;s Office of Homeland Security.
Donlon took over the position after being tapped by New York City Mayor Eric Adams following Caban&#8217;s abrupt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nypd-commissioner-resigns-amid-federal-criminal-probe">resignation</a> from the job just a little over a week ago after his phone was seized by federal agents in a criminal investigation.
The investigation, at least in part, centers around a nightclub security business that is owned by Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, and whether he used his brother to “fix potential problems for clubs and bars,” The Washington Post reported. The probe is reportedly focusing on other police officials as well.
“My complete focus has always been on the NYPD – the department and people I love and have dedicated over 30 years of service to,” Caban said in a statement. “However, the news around recent developments has created a distraction for our department, and I am unwilling to let my attention be on anything other than our important work, or the safety of the men and women of the NYPD.”
The criminal investigation is being conducted by the Southern District of New York, which focuses on government corruption cases, and the IRS.
Adams, who is under criminal investigation over potential corruption stemming from actions involving the Turkish government, has seen numerous people in his orbit come under criminal investigation recently.
The FBI executed search warrants last week at the home of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks and a home shared by First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Schools Chancellor David Banks. Investigators seized phones belonging to Caban and Timothy Pearson, a senior adviser to the mayor. A consultant, Terence Banks, brother of Philip Banks and David Banks, was also searched.
The feds raided the home of Adams’ director of Asian Affairs, Winnie Greco, earlier this year as part of a criminal probe run by the Eastern District of New York, the Times said. His former buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, faces bribery charges, and several donors to Adams’ campaign have been charged in a straw-donor scheme.

FBI agents load supplies into a truck 20 October 2

FBI Raids Home Of NYPD Interim Commissioner, A Week After Similar Raid Caused Predecessor To Resign

Eric Adams

In April 2023, after former President Donald Trump was indicted in New York, his concealed carry license was suspended. Now the New York City Police Department is reportedly preparing to revoke it entirely.
According to a senior NYPD official, Trump relinquished two pistols he was licensed to carry on March 31, 2023, but another gun listed on Trump’s license “was lawfully moved to Florida,” CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/05/politics/trump-gun-nypd-revoke/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The official said an investigation by the NYPD’s Legal Bureau “will likely lead to revocation of his license,” although Trump could challenge such a decision in a hearing.
Because Trump was convicted of 34 felonies at his Manhattan trial, it is a federal crime for him to possess a firearm.
Trump has had a license from the NYPD to carry a concealed firearm for more than a decade, law enforcement sources told CNN.
The verdict in Trump’s trial has been harshly criticized. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) stated:
<blockquote>
&#8220;I disagree with the jury&#8217;s verdict here. A jury can only act within the constraints that a judge puts on it, and this case was rigged from the very beginning. You had Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on getting Donald Trump. You had the judge, who&#8217;s a literal Biden donor, and at every turn he ruled in favor of the prosecution. &#8230; He never even insisted the prosecution reveal the alleged underlying crime for which Donald Trump supposedly covered up in – in bookkeeping entries. At every turn the judge put his finger on the scales, practically forcing the jury to find – to reach this outcome. &#8230; there’s no question Donald Trump should win on appeal.&#8221;
</blockquote>
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Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr stated, “I said from the very start that this was an abomination. And I actually was surprised that they went ahead with the case because there really was nothing there. There was no crime there and they never were able to really articulate it until after the defense rested its case. So I thought the whole thing was a travesty.”
“This case is going to be overruled because there are just multiple errors and violations of constitutional rights,” he continued. “This will be eventually overruled after the election.”
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