(Bloomberg) — Hundreds of Haitian community members in Brooklyn joined business leaders, politicians and the family of security guard Aland Etienne in mourning his death in last month’s shooting at a New York City office building.
“What happened in New York was senseless,” his brother Gathmand Etienne said, standing beside his casket at his funeral. “It took away a man who still had so much to give.”
Etienne, 46, was one of four people killed on July 28 in the lobby of 345 Park Avenue when Shane Tamura, 27, entered the building and opened fire. After being shot, Etienne tried to crawl to a panel that controls the elevators but collapsed before he could get there.
The killings reverberated across New York, from glass-tower boardrooms to Etienne’s Haitian enclave in Flatbush, and unsettled the corporate tenants of the 44-story office tower, home to Blackstone Inc., KPMG LLP and Rudin Management Co., a building landlord, underscoring vulnerabilities in even the most secure commercial addresses. The building also houses the offices of the NFL. Tamura was upset about football-related brain injuries.
Tamura also shot and killed police officer Didarul Islam and senior Blackstone real estate executive Wesley LePatner before climbing the elevator to the 33rd floor and killing Rudin employee Julia Hyman. He then shot himself.
Etienne was a “New York hero,” Manny Pastreich, president of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, told more than 350 mourners.
“We honor and recognize Aland’s heroism,” he said. “His last moments were focused on saving others.”
The shock from the shooting has been felt far beyond Park Avenue. In the Bronx, hundreds of uniformed officers from nearly every precinct gathered at a memorial service for Officer Islam, while the Central Synagogue in Midtown mourned LePatner. Each ceremony reflected the distinct communities drawn together by the violence.
City officials attended Saturday’s funeral, including pre-service appearances by Mayor Eric Adams and US Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader. Bill Rudin and other members of the Rudin family, which owns the building, sat in the crowd. So did Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Blackstone Charitable Foundation made a donation to Answer the Call, which was started after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to help families of first responders, and a GoFundMePage set up for Etienne’s four children has raised almost $200,000, including various multithousand dollar donations from senior Blackstone employees.
–With assistance from Amanda Gordon.
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