Mohammad Salman Hamdani

Media began to report that Hamdani's disappearance was under investigation. Reporters appeared at the family's home, and the New York Post published a story about him entitled, "Missing or Hiding? — Mystery of NYPD Cadet from Pakistan." Anonymous "Wanted" posters were distributed featuring Hamdani's NYPD cadet photo and the phrase "Hold and detain. Notify: major case squad," while some of the family's own missing posters were torn down.

On April 28, 2014, the corner of 204th Street and 35th Avenue in Bayside was renamed "Salman Hamdani Way". Councilman Paul Vallone, musician and activist Salman Ahmad, State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein and local residents attended the ceremony along with Hamdani's family members.

Also in 2014, Hamdani won the Unity Productions Foundation's "Noor Inayat Khan Courage Award."

On March 10, 2011, Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, in his testimony before the House of Representatives' Committee on Homeland Security for its hearing, "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community's Response," cited Hamdani as being falsely accused of being involved in the attacks only because he was a Muslim.

Salman Hamdani was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and moved to America with his parents when he was 13 months old. He had two younger brothers, Adnaan and Zeshan, who were born in the US. His mother, Talat, taught English at a Queens middle school and his father, Saleem was the owner and operator of a convenience store in Brooklyn until his death on June 26, 2004.

Hamdani's remains were positively identified by DNA match in March 2002.

On April 5, 2002, shortly after his remains were identified, Hamdani was hailed as a hero by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Rep. Ackerman at a police funeral attended by 500 people at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. Bloomberg called him "an example of how one can make the world better."

In 2002, Rockefeller University established a memorial scholarship fund in Hamdani's name for outstanding Pakistani-American students. In 2011, the Queens College Foundation announced the Salman Hamdani Memorial Award, to be presented to a graduating senior who has been accepted to medical school, has shown interest in Pakistani culture and needs financial assistance. The award was his mother's way of keeping Salman's dream alive; "This is his legacy. He gave his life. They tried to take away his dignity in death and they cannot do it," Talat said.

Hamdani was mentioned in the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act of the U.S. Congress as an example of Muslim Americans who acted heroically on 9/11. An intersection in Bayside, Queens has been renamed "Salman Hamdani Way" in his memory, and scholarship awards established in his name at Rockefeller University and Queens College in New York.

The family lived in Bayside, where Hamdani was on the football team at Bayside High School. He majored in biochemistry at Queens College while working part-time as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). He studied abroad in London his junior year before graduating in June 2001. In July he started employment at Rockefeller University, working as a research technician in the Protein/DNA Technology Center in association with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

It was believed that on the morning of September 11, 2001, while on the way to work at Rockefeller University, Hamdani witnessed the smoke coming from the Twin Towers and hurried to the scene to aid victims, using his police and EMT identification to get a ride through the restricted traffic.

In October 2001, remains of a body, along with Hamdani's medical bag and identification, were found in the wreckage of the North Tower at Ground Zero. He was declared a hero by Congress that October, 45 days after the attacks. He was cited in the USA PATRIOT Act, signed into law on October 26, 2001, in Title 1, section 102:

Mohammad Salman Hamdani (Urdu: محمد سلمان ہمدانی ‎) (December 28, 1977 – September 11, 2001) was a Pakistani American scientist, New York City Police Department cadet and Emergency Medical Technician who was killed in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorism attacks on the World Trade Center, where he had gone to try to help. In the weeks following 9/11, reports surfaced that the missing Hamdani was being investigated for possible involvement with the perpetrators, but this suspicion proved to be false and he was subsequently hailed as a hero by the New York City mayor and police commissioner.