NYC NOW - Midday News: Power Outage Disrupts Subway Lines, Gunman Apparently Targeted NFL Offices, and Mamdani’s Mayoral Bid Draws Mixed Reactions from South Asians

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

A power outage at the West 4th Street station is causing delays on the A, B, C, F, and M subway lines, according to the MTA. Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams says it appears a gunman who opened fire inside a Midtown skyscraper Monday was targeting NFL offices. Four people, including an off-duty police officer, were killed. Plus, WNYC’s Arun Venugopal reports on how mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is mobilizing some immigrant voters while facing criticism from others within his own South Asian community.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, July 29th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The MTA says a power outage at the West 4th Street subway station is causing several delays and disruptions for commuters. The outage affects the ABCF and M lines. The transit agency says it completely suspended some of the lines, why it rerouted others from express to local. New York City Transit President Demetrius Critchlow is blaming the issue on the subway's outdated electrical infrastructure. In this instance,

it was a breaker that tripped. Anytime there are extreme temperatures like this, it can have an impact on a strain on our system. And so right now we're trying to determine what caused that outage. The MTA says a plan for regular service to resume early this afternoon. The problems came as a heat wave is hitting the city. We now know more about those killed when a gunman opened fire yesterday in a Park Avenue skyscraper in Midtown. The labor union, SEIU 32BJ, says one of its members was one of four killed in the attack. The union is calling Alon Etienne, a dedicated security officer who took his job duties

extremely seriously. Investment firm Blackstone also says one of its executives, Wesley Lepetner was killed in the shooting. and last night the city officials identified Dideroole Islam as the police officer who died in the attack. Islam was working a paid security detail in uniform. Police said the gunman, 27-year-old Shane Tamir of Las Vegas, killed himself, had a history of mental illness and had a rambling note found on his body that suggested he had a grievance against the NFL over an unsubstantiated claim that he suffered from chronic, traumatic, and solopathy from playing non-professional football.

93 and sunny, sunny and 97 feeling like 105, dangerously hot to do. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm David First. The mayoral campaign of Democrat Zoran Mamdani has energized some of New York City's immigrant communities, including Muslim and South Asian constituents. But some of his sharpest critics are South Asian, like the candidate himself. WNYC's Arun Vendon. Anagapal joins us to discuss how Mamdani's run has placed him at the center of long-standing

divisions between Hindus and Muslims. Arun, thanks for being here. Hi, David. You attended a recent gathering of the Indian-American community in Queens, where much of the emphasis was placed on Mamdani. Can you talk about that gathering? Yeah, this is one of those events that was emblematic of the tensions between Hindus and Muslims.

It was held in Queens, featured a highly... controversial Hindu speaker from India, who goes by the name of Kajil Hindustani. She's been arrested in India on charges of hate speech. Mayor Adams was scheduled to attend this event, but he pulled out after an outcry from a number of community groups. Still, there were around 350 people, I'd say, in attendance. She told the crowd that Muslims represented a threat to Hindus, and she said that Zoran Mamdani, who is Muslim, was no different. She called him a demon and a number of anti-Muslim religious lures. Now, human rights groups say this speaker gave more hate speeches in India in 2023 than any other speaker.

But the sort of vitriol has been part of a larger uptick in anti-Muslim discourse, according to the Center for the Study of Organized Hate. It's also made clear that religious tensions that we might think of as far off taking place between Hindus and Muslims over in India are very much in evidence right here. in New York. Well, how was this speaker's message received by those in the audience? It clearly resonated with a lot of them who applauded her many times, crowded around her after she spoke for photo ops.

One of the people I spoke to with whom her words resonated was Prakash Patel from Jackson Heights. He said he saw Mamdani as just the first and what could be a number of Muslims gaining political power. How to stop him going in the power? If I don't do it, he's going to go more and more. Later on, it's going to be very harmed to our community, our Hindus and everybody. So this is our chance to stop before he get into that. So this is the first step, stop them getting into the political power.

And David, this is the kind of concern that human rights experts have. Rakeeb Hamid Naik is the executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate. And he worries that this kind of anti-Muslim discourse may have the effect of keeping Muslims out of public office in the United States. Arun, you have spoken to a number of people in the Hindu community in New York City. What concerns are they voicing about Mamdani? One person I spoke to, David, was Dr. Uman Mysorek. She's the president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, which runs the big Ganesh temple in Flushing.

And she says she has been hearing from devotees who are worried about what Mamdani. would be like if he's elected mayor. She says the concern is that they wouldn't necessarily get fair treatment under him. I fully understand the fear that some people do have. I don't think it is a justifiable fear, really. I think it's just not fair to judge him based on the fact that he is a Muslim or a follower of Islam. And she also said she's willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if he is elected and that she'd most certainly invite him to the flood.

Hindu temple should he be elected. Why do people say they oppose Mamdani that she's talking to? So a few things. In the past, he's repeatedly criticized the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, called him a war criminal. Modi was a chief minister of a state in India, Gujarat, in 2002 when these massive religious riots erupted. Now, he was cleared by India's Supreme Court, but a number of civil society groups and International observers state that he fomented the violence in that state by Hindu groups, which ended in the deaths of as many as 2,000 Muslims.

Nonetheless, Mamdani's words criticizing him have really angered some Indians. Then there's something more local, David. He co-sponsored a bill in the New York State Legislature that would make cast a protected category. Now, the bill doesn't specifically name India or Hindus, but some conservative Hindu groups oppose it because they say it singles out their community. Mamdani also has Hindu supporters. What do they have to say? There's a group called Hindus for Zoran. Lavanya Dara Dali is a member of this group, and she's originally from India.

She says the group also includes people from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Indo-Caribbean communities. He kind of really reflects like everything that we are. We're very pluralistic. So he has this very strong values. He has such great moral clarity that our religion teaches us and that the values that we embody and the values that we hope we give our children. Now, others have pointed out that Mamdani has attended some Hindu events. These included festivities at Nepali Hindu temple and Ridgewood earlier this year. Diwali celebration last fall in Queens where, you know, he said the festival was about the triumph of light over darkness and that it was sometimes hard to find that light in the city.

when you can't afford your rent. So really combining his sort of stump speech with the values of the Hindu community. How is Mamdani responding to this rift within the community and these attacks? The Mamdani campaign hasn't commented on the attacks against him, some of which are clearly quite personal

and inflammatory. But a couple weeks ago, when we reported on the fact that Mayor Adams withdrew from this event featuring Kajil Hindustani, Mamdani issued a statement to WNYC saying, we should be bringing Newarkers together, not stoking division.

He doesn't appear to have articulated how he would bridge the divide within the South Asian community. And in a tight race, clearly those votes and these divisions could really make a difference, David. WNYC's Arun Venetipal. Thanks for speaking with us. Thanks a lot. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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