NEW YORK—Mayor Eric Adams, in a July 29, 2025, Instagram Live interview with Rocanews, detailed the city’s response to a deadly Midtown Manhattan shooting that claimed four lives, including the gunman, and left one person critically injured. The suspect, identified as a Las Vegas resident, used two firearms—one legally purchased, the other linked to an associate—in what authorities described as a deliberate act of violence, the worst in the city in years. Adams commended first responders for their tactical entry into the building despite unknown risks, including potential additional shooters or explosives. He highlighted proactive measures, such as a security council formed in 2022 with corporate partners and active shooter training, which equipped businesses like those under Rudin Management with safe rooms. Addressing heightened public fear, particularly among Midtown workers, Adams urged participation in safety drills and reaffirmed the city’s commitment to transparent communication to counter misinformation and rebuild trust. The shooter’s motive, possibly tied to health issues like CTE or specific targets such as the NFL or Blackstone, remains under investigation as detectives pursue leads in Las Vegas.
Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on Rocanews’ Instagram Live
Max Towey: Our first question is, what do we know right now about the shooting?
Mayor Eric Adams: There’s a couple of things that we have information on, and a couple of leads that we are following. We know that the person who carried out the act, we know he’s from Las Vegas, he drove across town in our city yesterday with one intention based on what we’re seeing, and that is to inflict violence, and everyone he came in contact with, he either shot or attempted to shoot, except for one person.
He was entering the elevator, a person came off the elevator. He did not shoot her and ignored her, as she was able to exit the building. But he wreaked havoc, took the lives of [four] people. One of them is himself, he [was] shot. One person is holding on for his life right now. But it was a clear act of violence that we have not witnessed in this city in many, many years, and our heart goes out to Officer Islam and all of the victims of this shooting.
We know the gun. There were two guns in his possession. One gun was in the vehicle, a revolver. He appeared to have purchased that with a carry permit. The other gun that was used in the actual shootings, part of the gun was purchased by an associate of his. We are tracking down all the leads of two teams of detectives who are now in Las Vegas, where they’re going to look at his house, search his house, and they’re going to follow the leads on the guns.
Max Frost: As a former police officer yourself, can you talk a bit about when this happens, what happens with the first responders? Are they running right in the building? What are they doing?
Mayor Adams: That’s a great question. They are going in as quick as possible, but they’re not going in recklessly. They’re not going to delay, because delay can cost a lot of lives. What I really want to commend these responding officers is that they went in the building with the full knowledge that there’s a shooter inside.
While others were running away from the danger, which they should do, these officers were running towards the danger. When you hear people criticize and attack police officers, they don’t fully understand what it takes and the level of nobility to run towards danger. They went in, did a floor-by-floor search. They went in with the lack of knowledge that there were other shooters involved, that there were incendiary devices involved. They knew when they were going in in a very tactical way, well-trained, that any type of danger could face them at any time.
Towey: A ton of our audience is based in New York. We had a ton of messages about this interview in particular. It seems a lot of businesses are scared right now. A lot of people who work in Midtown are scared. We had a ton of people send us pictures from their office.
What’s your message to people who either operate a business in Midtown or work at a business in Midtown, especially a place like the NFL that’s under scrutiny? Should they be scared, and what’s the city doing to protect them now?
Mayor Adams: We started in 2022. The first thing we did under the former deputy mayor, we reached out to all of our top corporations and brought their security team inside. We created a security council. We sat down with the top security heads of all of our corporations and shared with them that we’re going to work on best practices, we’re going to share information, and we’re going to have a direct line of communication with the Police Department.
It was so important to do, because born out of that, we started to do active shooter training and information. You saw some of the actions of people piling up furniture at the door to stop someone’s entry. In many of our buildings, particularly the building under Rudin Management, they had a safe room on each floor. It was a bathroom that doubled as a safe room, a bulletproof door that you could lock in place so no one could get inside.
So we saw the proactive things that we did when we first came in office, it materialized in this encounter that we’ve had. And so when you talk to everyday employees, they should take the active shooting drills seriously. It’s carried out on all of their floors with all of their employees because it does save lives.
Frost: Now, obviously this is coming just not long after the alleged Luigi Mangione killing, not far from there. What do you think? So after that, there’s been a lot of people who came out in support of Luigi, and even now you’re seeing people celebrating the death of a Blackstone executive in the building. What do you think, as the mayor of the city, when you see that? People almost encouraging certain acts of violence.
Mayor Adams: And I saw it after the shooting of the health care executive. People don’t realize that level of hate, that level of motivation, can create atmospheres of copycats. And they should not wait until their family member is a victim of one of these actions.
So the celebration you do today could turn into an action that could harm one of your family members. These were family members. A son died yesterday by protecting our city, when I spoke with his dad, this was his only son. I clearly felt that pain by having only one son. And we need to think about this. We’re talking about human beings.
So when you celebrate the loss of a life of an executive, you’re celebrating the loss of a life of a potential father, a mother, a daughter, a family member. And I think it’s despicable and it’s shameful. And I think social media should play a role in monitoring those types of posting that celebrate a hate of this magnitude.
Towey: So I’m reading a question from the audience now. We want to ask a couple real quickly in the time we have left. One is how could someone with a big [] gun walk into a building like that when surveillance cameras showed him walking with that gun?
Mayor Adams: And I want to break that down into two levels. Number one, he parked his car in front of the building and immediately walked in with the gun at his side. So it wasn’t as though he walked in holding it up. He was walking with it at his side at a very normal pace. And so someone who’s determined like that to carry out an action, everyone he encountered, he was shot, shot at, or one person he walked past.
So that is the most challenging thing you can do as a law enforcement officer to prevent someone who has intention, who has a hate, and who has the device to carry out an action. And because of how we responded, I believe we prevented lives from taking place or loss.
Frost: I have kind of a general question. I saw before, a lot of comments. There’s a lot of distrust in what people hear. There’s a lot of theories about different stuff the media is not saying or whatever.
What’s your role and what do you do as a mayor to make sure people trust the information that’s being put out there? Because right now there’s obviously a crisis of trust in a lot of institutions. So what can you do in a time like this as mayor to restore that faith?
Mayor Adams: That’s so important because we can understand people have a lot of theories. Social media spreads a lot of theories. But what we wanted to do from day one is to give New Yorkers as much accurate information as possible as this unfolded.
We used the Citizen app for push notifications and let New Yorkers know when the threat was terminated based on the suicide that happened. We communicated with people who were in the building to stay in place until we did a floor-by-floor search to look for incendiary devices. And so all we can do is inform New Yorkers with an honest analysis of what we’re facing at a time like this.
We know there is a deficit of trust, not only in the country but globally. Our role is to make sure we communicate and New Yorkers will see that what we share with them is valid, accurate information. The worst thing you can do is give inaccurate information.
Towey: Okay, I got one last question that people are asking. They’re saying, why did the guy shoot up the building? There’s been a rumor about the NFL. There’s been a rumor about Blackstone being based in the building. Do we have a sense of motive right now?
Mayor Adams: No. Based on his note claiming that he has CTE, we are looking to see if his desire was to go to the NFL or if his desire was to go somewhere else. We’re unclear at this time. It was a theory at first saying that he may have used the wrong elevator banks because it allows you to go to certain floors.
We’re still examining that, finding out exactly as much as possible of what was his intention. We may find more information on his computers. We may find more information when we interview those who are associated with him, some of his employees. We’re not sure of what his final destination [was] at this time.
Towey: Well, thank you so, so much for your time, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Our prayers go out to the families of those who are involved, and we’re going to continue to lift them up with support and prayers. Thank you.
Frost: Thank you so much Mayor Adams, really appreciate it.
July 29, 2025 New York
Sources: NYC.gov , Big New York news BigNY.com
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