While New York City reeled after a gunman opened fire in Midtown Manhattan Tuesday evening, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani celebrated at a wedding party in Uganda. Though Mamdani returned to New York on Wednesday morning, several New Yorkers told the Washington Free Beacon that they believe he should not have left the city at all.
The suspect, a Nevada native named Shane D. Tamura, allegedly killed an NYPD officer and three civilians at an office building that houses the NFL headquarters before committing suicide. Mamdani issued a statement after the shooting in which he said he was "grateful for all of our first responders on the ground," but one ex-cop in particular had harsh words for the Democratic nominee.
"You have this guy on his third wedding party in Uganda who wants to be the Mayor of New York City," former New York Police Department detective Pete Panuccio told the Free Beacon. "This is a major event that is going to affect all New Yorkers, and he should have been here. But, frankly, I don’t think a lot of cops would really want him at the funeral."
Mamdani’s wedding party in Uganda—after a similarly lavish affair in Dubai last year and a civil ceremony in New York in May—seems to contradict comments he made on the primary debate stage. While his opponents all said they would visit Israel, a trip New York mayors have traditionally made owing to the city’s large Jewish population, Mamdani evaded the question.
"I'll be standing up for Jewish New Yorkers, and I'll be meeting them wherever they are across the five boroughs, whether that's in their synagogues and temples or at their homes or the subway platform, because ultimately, we need to focus on delivering on their concerns," he said.
Mamdani told an audience of progressive Jews on the Upper West Side later that month that he did not believe Israel would allow him entry into the country, given his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
His comments on visiting Israel have earned him fans in some surprising places.
"That guy was the only person in the New York City mayor’s debate to say he wanted to focus on New York City," Tucker Carlson said approvingly of Mamdani last month. "He said, ‘I wouldn’t go anywhere. I would stay in New York.’"
Mamdani has said that, if elected, he would have Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested should the leader of the Jewish state come to New York City because of the International Criminal Court’s warrant against Netanyahu. He had no concerns about visiting his homeland of Uganda even though the State Department warns LGBT Americans against traveling there due to a risk of execution. Arbitrary killings, forced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention and violence and intimidation against journalists are all commonplace in the country, the department says.
Bob Holden, a Democrat serving on the New York City Council, told the Free Beacon that Mamdani’s disappearance suggests a lack of accountability within his party.
"The fact that he could go to Uganda and have his third wedding celebration with millions of dollars and guards—Democrats are not holding him accountable," Holden said. "I hope the rest of the electorate will. This has been my party all my life and it's been a shame to see it spiral out of control."
Holden also said the voters who support Mamdani are not likely to hold him accountable either.
"His followers are sheeple," he added. "That’s what they are. They just fall in line. They believe in his rhetoric because they are not smart enough to see through it."
Reporters grilled Mamdani over his past statements on social media calling to defund the police and blasting the NYPD as "racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety," as well as a tweet saying "nature is healing" in response to another post about a police officer crying.
The candidate repeatedly refused to disavow his past statements and instead suggested he had been caught up in the far-left activism of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
"My statements in 2020 were ones made amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd," Mamdani said. "I am not defunding the police. I am not running to defund the police."
Mamdani did concede that the tweet celebrating crying police officers was "out of step" with his current campaign.
Mamdani—who once said the NYPD should not handle domestic violence calls—added that he would leave a list of incidents including "gun violence prevention" and "hate crimes" to his proposed "Department of Community Safety."
Not everyone was happy to see Mamdani return. Madeline Brame, whose son, Sergeant Hason Correa, was killed by career criminals in Harlem in 2018, told the Free Beacon that she would have been happier if the socialist candidate had stayed in his homeland.
"I want him to stay," she said. "Okay, good, stay over there so, you know, people can see him for who he really is."