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New York City police are investigating how a box containing NYPD uniforms was found abandoned this week near a cemetery in Brooklyn, according to a report. The discovery, which came shortly before socialist Zohran Mamdani was inaugurated as the city’s new mayor, has prompted widespread speculation online, with theories ranging from resignations to more sinister explanations.
According to the New York Daily News, a 911 caller reported the box around 8:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Video shared on social media showed officers examining the uniforms before they were transported to the 66th Precinct station for safety, the newspaper reported.
The timing of the discovery, just days before Mamdani was sworn into office, drew additional attention. Some users on the social media platform X suggested the uniforms could be connected to potential resignations by officers unwilling to serve under the incoming administration.
Others questioned that theory, noting that several posts incorrectly claimed the uniforms were found on the same night as Mamdani’s swearing in.
Additional speculation online suggested the uniforms could have been intended for use as disguises in a possible criminal or terrorist plot.
Others floated the idea that supporters of the new mayor may have been involved, though no evidence has been presented to support those claims.
Police have not indicated that any of the theories circulating online have been substantiated.
The investigation into the discovery remains ongoing. The New York Daily News reported that police are asking anyone with information to call 800-577-TIPS.
Bruce Blakeman, the Republican executive of Nassau County and a GOP candidate for governor, is calling on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to remove a member of his transition team who has referred to NYPD officers as killers.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist set to take office on Jan. 1, has assembled a transition team of more than 400 people, including volunteers tasked with advising the incoming administration on policy priorities and key appointments. Among those selected is Kazi Fouzia, a self-described “revolutionary organizer” affiliated with the group Desis Rising Up and Moving, who was appointed to lead Mamdani’s “Worker Justice” transition committee.
Blakeman is insisting that Fouzia be dismissed from her position after a video emerged in which she labeled New York City Police Department officers as “killers” who target the Bangladeshi community in the city.
“Calling our police officers — the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect New Yorkers — ‘killers’ is disgusting, dangerous, and completely unacceptable,” Blakeman said in a statement. “Mayor-elect Mamdani cannot allow someone who publicly demonizes law enforcement to sit on his transition team. Kazi Fouzia should be fired immediately.”
Blakeman, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in next year’s election, said Fouzia’s remarks reflect what he called a broader pattern of “anti-police rhetoric” by both Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Hochul.
Blakeman said both Mamdani and Hochul were endorsed by the Working Families Party, which he characterized as a radical organization that has advocated for reducing police funding and weakening law enforcement.
“By empowering a radical anti-police activist and standing shoulder to shoulder with ‘Defund the Police’ allies, Mamdani and Hochul have made their priorities crystal clear,” Blakeman said.
In the video, Fouzia criticized members of the Bangladeshi community for sharing photos of relatives after they were hired by the NYPD, saying they should not take pride in the appointments because the officers would eventually become “killers” who “brutally beat our people,” according to excerpts circulated online.
“What are you proud for?” Fouzi said in the 2020 video clip. “That your relative would become a killer one day, or brutally beat our people?”
Fouzia’s appointment has also drawn criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, which said in a report released last week that Zohran Mamdani’s transition team includes members engaged in antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or anti-Israel activity.
