{"id":303567,"date":"2026-07-23T07:40:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T07:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303567\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T07:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T07:40:36","slug":"ousmane-diallo-legislative-director-for-assemblyman-al-taylor-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303567\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousmane Diallo, legislative director for Assemblyman Al Taylor, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Political rising star Ousmane Diallo, who served as New York State Assemblymember Al Taylor\u2019s legislative director, died on July 18 at age 24. Attorney General Letitia James office confirmed to the Amsterdam News that he was killed \u201cfollowing an incident involving a member of the New York City Police Department\u201d and said it was opening an investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShortly after 1:30 a.m. on July 18, NYPD officers responded to 911 calls reporting a shooting in an apartment on Fredrick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem,\u201d a statement from James\u2019 office said. \u201cWhen officers entered the apartment, they found Mr. Diallo, who had a gunshot wound to the head, and his brother, an off-duty NYPD officer. Mr. Diallo was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers recovered a firearm at the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young Harlemite and political rising star joined the National Action Network (NAN) as a teenager through the Youth Huddle program and participated in the organization\u2019s efforts, such as the 2023 commemoration of the March on Washington. During his tenure, he became the field director for National Youth and College. He first met Taylor, who first confirmed Diallo\u2019s death to the AmNews, through this work, leading the state lawmaker to hire him as a legislative intern before later promoting him to legislative director, according to the assemblymember\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cOusmane was the epitome of what it means to be a servant leader,\u201d Taylor said on social media. \u201cOur team\u2026loved him dearly. His laughter, his presence, his wisdom beyond his years, and his dedication to the people we serve will be deeply missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 20, NAN posted its own tribute<\/a> to Diallo on social media featuring photos of the young man with the Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson. <\/p>\n

NAN held a Special Community Huddle honoring Diallo on July 21, attended by dozens of family members, longtime friends from NAN and other organizations, and political figures. Several elected officials\u2014including Council Member Yusef Salaam and Assemblymembers Jordan Wright, Khalil Davis, and Manny De Los Santos\u2014spoke to honor Diallo and share personal stories of how he impacted their lives. <\/p>\n

Ashley Sharpton, founder and director of the NAN Youth Huddle, recalled Diallo speaking during their last NAN meeting. \u201cI thought he was the future,\u201d she said, fighting back tears. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can ask any staff at the National Action Network who I was rooting for to replace me. It was Ousmane Diallo.\u201d <\/p>\n

Aaliyah Nickens, 23, was a longtime friend and colleague of Diallo\u2019s through NAN and Cities United, a national gun violence prevention group. The two met at Countee Cullen Elementary School and shared a bond over similar upbringings surrounded by neighborhood violence. They joined NAN and became leaders in the Youth Huddle, together gathering young people from across the country for the March on Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll only find one person that\u2019s like Ousmane,\u201d Nickens said. \u201cHe has a lot of accomplishments and accolades under his belt. But when you\u2019re in a room with him, he\u2019ll make you feel like you both are like the same people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement provided to the AmNews, Mayor Zohran Mamdani recalled originally meeting Diallo, who later canvassed for him, in Albany.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am heartbroken by the passing of Ousmane Diallo,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cHe was a gifted community leader, a lifelong Harlemite, and an embodiment of compassion, humility, and a commitment to serving others. Yet before all of that, I knew him first as a friendly face in Albany\u2014someone whose greeting and smile was as dependable as the sun rising each morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will miss him, as I know anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him will. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, and to the community he made better each and every day. We mourn him, and we know that his legacy of service and kindness will endure.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Inniss of New York Communities for Change also first met Diallo in Albany. The two organizers, who both boasted Harlem roots, quickly hit it off while working together on criminal justice reform legislation. Inniss described Diallo as a cheery presence and a bright political mind. <\/p>\n

\u201cI always had conversations about the bills, he\u2019s one of the people that I would come to and be like \u2018what\u2019s going on?\u2019\u201d said Inniss. \u201cWe became not just friends but [worked] together to try to pass bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier recounted meeting Diallo when they both canvassed for Mamdani in a social media post. She also recalled how he once defended her from a crowd of hecklers.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the essence of who Ousmane was: showing up for people quietly, in moments where they feel alone or scared, without expecting anything in return,\u201d wrote Chevalier. <\/p>\n

An online fundraiser<\/a> for Diallo\u2019s family, confirmed as official by a family member, had raised more than $10,000 as of press time. An official funeral service was scheduled for July 23 at the Masjid Futa Islamic Center in the Bronx.
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014
Editor\u2019s Note: This story has been updated.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Political rising star Ousmane Diallo, who served as New York State Assemblymember Al Taylor\u2019s legislative director, died on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-303567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}