One Year After 345 Park Shooting, Litigation Continues

A year has passed since tragedy struck Manhattan’s 345 Park Avenue.

On July 28, 2025, a gunman entered the office tower, owned by Rudin Management, with an assault rifle. He killed four people: police officer Didarul Islam, Rudin associate Julia Hyman, Blackstone real estate executive Wesley LePatner and security guard Aland Etienne. The gunman then died by suicide.

The year since has been filled with grief for those affected. It has also been replete with lawsuits and controversy, and centered Rudin, a well-known name in real estate industry circles, in a harsh spotlight as the involved parties pursue their cases.

Rudin hasn’t spoken publicly over the last year about any permanent changes it would make to its security protocol at 345 Park. A spokesperson declined to comment on any changes when asked by The Real Deal. The NFL, the 345 Park tenant targeted by the shooter, upped security at all team and league facilities in the wake of the tragedy.

The real estate firm did file plans with the city to redesign and reduce the size of the building’s outdoor plaza, Crain’s reported in April. “Such reduction would improve the overall security and functionality of the Park Avenue Plaza and the building while retaining the existing amenities,” the company’s application said.

The widow of Islam, the slain police officer who was working as a uniformed security guard at the time of the shooting, blamed the real estate firm for her husband’s death in a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court in December. Lawyers for widow Jamila Akhter argued that mass shootings are common enough in the United States that Rudin was reckless and negligent in not better preparing for one at its 44-story, Class-A tower.

Rudin put Islam in danger by, among other things, failing to have weapons detection systems outside the building, barriers impeding the shooter’s path across the plaza to the lobby and adequate active shooter drills, as well as failing to “link AI-powered video weapon detection systems to automatic mass notification communication systems,” Akhter argued in a complaint.

In court documents, Rudin’s attorneys denied allegations, saying Islam assumed the dangers of his position, and that any injury to Islam or his family was caused at least in part by his own “comparative/contributory negligence.”

A spokesperson for Rudin declined to comment on pending litigation.

“The unfathomable act of senseless violence that occurred one year ago at 345 Park Avenue was a tragedy of profound magnitude,” a Rudin spokesperson said in a statement to The Real Deal. “The memories of the four innocent lives taken will live forever in our hearts. We extend our deepest love and compassion to each of their families, friends and colleagues.”

Elizabeth Eilender, an attorney for Islam’s widow, said city landlords should be paying attention to the case if they care about public safety.

“In the last year, Rudin has done nothing to demonstrate that they are without responsibility,” Eilender said. The company has been somewhat unwilling to turn over security camera footage of the attack, only allowing attorneys to view the footage at their offices after signing a confidentiality agreement.

Eilender said she was originally presented with an agreement that stipulated she would owe Rudin $50,000 if she were to violate their terms.

“I refused to acquiesce to that type of bullying,” said Eilender, who succeeded in getting the court to order the landlord to send her the footage after she signed a more limited confidentiality agreement. She said on Monday that she had not yet received it.

Lawyers for two other parties, Craig Clementi, an NFL employee who was injured in the attack, and the family of Hyman, made outside agreements with Rudin to view the footage, according to court documents.

A Rudin spokesperson declined to comment on its protective measures regarding the footage.

The Hyman family and Clementi have both indicated interest in suing the city for the police department’s conduct during the event. The two parties have both separately asked the court to have the fast-approaching statute of limitations on those claims extended. The city’s law department did not respond to a request for comment.

“It became apparent upon viewing the surveillance footage depicting Detective Islam at his security post that the City of New York, by its Police Department, may bear liability for the negligence of Detective Islam for the happening of this tragic occurrence,” an attorney for Clementi wrote in court documents. “[T]he video evidence provides a good faith basis to assert that Detective Islam’s inattentiveness and negligence allowed the gunman to walk across the building’s plaza with a visible assault rifle and into the building.”

Whether other parties, including Clementi or the Hyman family, will choose to bring claims against Rudin is still unclear.

“Every day, I think about those who lost their lives in this tragedy,” Clementi said in a statement. “I pray and mourn for all who loved them and I recognize that their grief and suffering will never go away.”