Pallbearers with the NYPD Ceremonial Unit carry the casket of Officer Didarul Islam during his funeral in New York on July 31, 2025. Angelina Katsanis/AP/File

As Zohran Mamdani was asleep on another continent, his top campaign aides wrangled over how he should sound in his statement about an off-duty police officer who had just been shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan along with three other people.

Drafts went back and forth as the news dribbled in, people familiar with and involved in the conversations that night tell CNN about the previously unreported moment. Lines were suggested, pushed back on, tweaked.

This was a tragic moment with a lot of eyes on a measured response, some on the campaign were saying. Not at the expense of their values, others responded. Their candidate had

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