‘If she would've made a left, that would've ended her life’: Police detail Midtown shooting | WATCH

NEW YORK - Four New Yorkers were killed, and several others narrowly escaped with their lives in a mass shooting Monday evening in Midtown, an act of violence that NYPD officials called "pure evil" and unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

In an interview with Good Day New York, NYPD Chief of Department John Chell and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry recounted details from the crime scene and shared the stories of both the victims and survivors.

After the dignified transfer of Officer Islam’s body, they joined the mayor and police commissioner to walk through the crime scene and review surveillance footage in the building’s security room.

 "God was with a lot of folks that day," Daughtry said. 

He described the images they saw: blood, shattered glass, and shell casings from rifle rounds scattered across the lobby and upper floors.

Victims in Midtown shooting

Among those who died was Officer Islam, a devoted community officer, father of two, and husband whose wife is eight months pregnant. "He was working to support his community," said NYPD Chief of Department John Chell. "We lost four great New Yorkers in that lobby."

They say Islam’s father collapsed from chest pains at the hospital after learning of his son’s death and had to be rushed for treatment.

Another victim was a mother of two, described as an executive, along with an unarmed security guard who was shot while trying to protect others.

Security guard tried to stop gunman after being shot

Even after being wounded, Daughtry and Chell said the guard attempted to crawl toward an elevator control panel in a desperate bid to prevent the gunman from reaching higher floors. 

A worker for the Rudin Management Company, which had active shooter protocols in place, was also killed.

Some inside the building escaped only by chance and, in at least one case, divine grace.

Housekeeper on the 33rd floor made ‘right turn’

A longtime housekeeper on the 33rd floor came terrifyingly close to the gunman according to Daughtry and Chell. 

"If she would've made a left, that would've ended her life," Daughtry said. "But she made a right, and the gunman made a left." As she ran down the hallway, the shooter spotted her and fired multiple rounds, but she managed to flee unharmed and hid.

Chell added that the cleaner had been with the building for years and was deeply loved by the staff. "When she was running away, she took her garbage can with her..think about that," he said.

Inside the tower, panic rooms and reinforced bathrooms saved additional lives, thanks to preparedness by the Rudin Company, which had trained employees for active shooter scenarios. "They’re all horrific stories," Daughtry said.

One man who was shot still managed to pick up his phone to call his friends before help arrived offering a glimpse into the human instincts at play in the middle of chaos.

Midtown gunman blames CTE

The backstory:

The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, had traveled cross-country from Las Vegas to New York. He entered the building lobby armed with an AR-15 and another firearm before taking his own life on the 33rd floor.

Investigators found three handwritten notes on Tamura’s body and additional writings at his home. 

Some referenced CTE, a degenerative brain condition. 

What's next:

"The investigation is far from over," Chell said. "We’ll look at his phones, his computers, talk to his family, we have to understand what he was doing and why he was doing it."

NYPD has deployed teams to Las Vegas to speak with Tamura’s relatives and uncover a timeline of his movements. Authorities are also investigating whether an acquaintance helped him assemble one of the weapons using a legally purchased receiver.

"We would do anything to go back in time," Daughtry said. "If we could put ourselves in that lobby, if we could put ourselves on 33, we would have put ourselves in that line of fire. That’s what we do."

Crime and Public Safety