On July 28, a shooter opened fire in a Manhattan office building that houses the NFL headquarters, killing four individuals including New York Police Department officer and Muslim immigrant Didarul Islam. Laura Loomer, an extremist with close ties to the Trump administration, immediately began pushing anti-Muslim lies about the suspected shooter, later identified as a former high school football player from Las Vegas who reportedly had a note mentioning the NFL and claiming he had a degenerative brain disease linked to concussions.

Loomer initially claimed the shooter was “described by witnesses as a Middle Eastern man with an AR-15 rifle.” She also claimed the shooter supported the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and the “Free Palestine movement.”

After the identity of the suspected shooter was released, Loomer doubled down on claims that he was a “Free Palestine” activist, writing, “So let me get this straight. A Free Palestine low IQ black jihadi killed a Muslim police officer in his rampage on a building in NYC with a Jewish CEO while he was screaming Free Palestine?”

Loomer then lashed out against the media for not pushing baseless claims about the shooter’s motives: “Now the media is running to cover up another act of Islamic terrorism by the FREE PALESTINE crowd.”

There appears to be no evidence that the shooter is connected to protests about Palestinians, but the New York Post did report that a protester outside the building yelled, “Free Palestine, I’m not the shooter,” and was arrested. Witness testimony Loomer cited included a witness saying police arrested the man saying “free Palestine.” The suspected shooter reportedly took his life in the building.

Loomer used her claims to push an Islamophobic agenda, repeatedly calling for Mamdani, who has been visiting Uganda, to be refused reentry to the country. She framed Mamdani as an “Islamic immigrant invader” and attacked Muslim politicians broadly, writing, “We need to have a serious conversation about banning Islamic immigrants from running for office in America.” Loomer also repeated her Islamophobic attacks while attempting to tie them to the shooter, writing: “I don’t feel safe with Muslims holding office in America. Mamdani inspires cop killers and Islamic terrorists to wage war on the streets of America while screaming ‘Free Palestine,’” and “This is why I will never care about Gaza.”

This is not Loomer’s first time pushing baseless claims in the aftermath of a shooting. Following the shooting of two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers, Loomer claimed the shooter was an “ally” of Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and suggested Walz may have known about the shooting ahead of time.

Loomer is a self-described “proud Islamophobe” with a long history of making bigoted remarks about Muslims. Infamously in 2017, rideshare apps Uber and Lyft banned Loomer after she made multiple bigoted complaints that they hire Muslim drivers. During the 2024 election, Loomer argued that a Kamala Harris win would create an “Islamic caliphate in this country.” She also said China detains Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim group, because the country recognizes “the threat of Islam.”

Loomer is an influential figure in the MAGA world. She has repeatedly boasted that she has influence over the administration and often claims Trump “hired” her four times but his staff “did not listen to him.” She regularly brings up her communications with Trump, even noting that she spoke with the president shortly after he signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law. In April, Trump fired six national security officials after a meeting with Loomer. She also took credit for the firing of Mike Waltz from the National Security Council in early May and boasted that Trump “took my advice” on Panama Canal policies during the 2024 election.