Haitian security guard killed in NYC shooting remembered as ‘hero’ by union, family

Claudia Irizarry Aponte / THE CITY

The security guard who was slain in the mass shooting in a Midtown office building on Monday was remembered by his brother as a hard-working man, hero, devoted father and aspiring filmmaker who was proud to play his part “in making the city of New York a little safer every day.”

Aland Etienne, 46, is among the four victims of Monday’s deadly attack at 345 Park Avenue, a prominent office tower that houses the headquarters of the National Football League and several large investment firms including Blackstone.

“I am the younger brother of my hero,” said sibling Smith Etienne.

“Aland was a brother, son, a loving father — fantastic father,” he continued. “He was a smart dude and as the oldest brother I looked up to him in everything I do.”

The younger Etienne spoke at the headquarters of the union 32BJ SEIU, of which Aland was a member, honoring both him and slain NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, 36, on Wednesday. He was flanked by Etienne’s widow, Rachelle Paoli; union president Manny Pastreich; and Democratic mayoral candidate Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. 

Their deaths, said Pastreich, underscore the dangers and sacrifices security personnel face on the line of duty. He invoked a similar attack in 2015 that resulted in the death of a 32BJ member, security officer Idrissa Camara, who was fatally shot by a gunman who stormed a federal building on Varick Street, then killed himself.

“Security officers in this city know that they put their life on the line when they put on their uniforms, they’re there to do their jobs as a first line of defense in each of these buildings, and they know that they’re often in harm’s way,” said Pastreich. “These essential workers are often overlooked and unseen until moments like this, that reveal the true value of their work and their contributions.”

A member of 32BJ SEIU’s security division since 2017, Etienne worked at 345 Park Ave. for more than six years under the security firm McLane Security. He was unarmed at the time of the shooting, a union spokesperson said. Representatives for McLane Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Etienne, a Haitian immigrant who lived in Brooklyn, is survived by Paoli and his two children, parents, and five siblings. He loved making home movies in Haiti and had aspirations to become a filmmaker, but he devoted himself to his family instead, and nurtured his love of films in his brother, now a filmmaker based in Florida.

“He poured into me and supported my career in film as an extension of himself,” Smith said. “It’s an example of the kind of person he is.” 

“He was more than a brother — he was a father, a son, and a light in our lives,” another brother, Gathmand Etienne, wrote on Facebook. “Our hearts are shattered, and we’re asking for your prayers and strength as we navigate this painful time.”

The others killed were Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, 44; and 27-year-old Julia Hyman, who worked for real estate firm Rudin Management. 

Security camera images released by the NYPD showed Shane Tamura walking into the building shortly after 6 p.m. Monday holding a rifle, which officials later identified as an M4. Tamura shot three people including Islam and Etienne in the lobby before getting on an elevator and going to the 33rd floor where he fired on Hyman before taking his own life, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference Monday night.

Adams said during a televised interview on CBS Mornings on Tuesday that investigators found a note on Tamura that implied he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease caused by repeated concussions, and appeared to blame the NFL for his injuries.

“He, from our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,” said Adams.

Islam was also remembered as a “hero” by Shamsul Haque, a retired police officer and founder of the Bangladeshi American Police Association, of which Islam was a member, at the same 32BJ event on Wednesday.

“He is one of us, and losing him feels like losing a brother,” said Haque.

Islam, from The Bronx’s 47th Precinct, was working off-duty as a security guard at the Park Avenue tower at the time of the attack. An immigrant from Bangladesh, he is survived by his wife and their two children; she is pregnant with their third child. 

Mamdani, fresh off a trip to his native Uganda to celebrate his recent marriage, said he met with Islam’s family in The Bronx Wednesday morning for about an hour; he said he accepted the family’s invitation to the funeral on Thursday.

He mourned the lives cut short and called for strengthening the nation’s gun laws. Though New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, he noted that Tamura bought his weapon in Nevada.

“We are only as safe as the weakest gun laws in this nation,” he said. 

Mamdani said he has not talked to Mayor Eric Adams about the shooting, but he did have a conversation with Tisch.

At the event, Mamdani also expressed regret over resurfaced social media posts he made before elected office that critics have said are insensitive to police officers, and that his opponents have seized on throughout his mayoral campaign.

He responded specifically to questions about a 2020 social media post in which he replied “nature is healing” to a user who described seeing a police officer crying in his car.

“The tweet that you referred to is a tweet that is clearly out of step with the way in which I not only view police officers, the immense work that they do, but also the seriousness with which we need to treat that work, and the difficulties that come with that work,” said Mamdani.

“I am not a candidate that is fixed in time. I am one who learns and one that leads. As I’ve grown, part of that means focusing on the people who deserve to be spoken about.”

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