NYC Skyscraper Shooter Blames NFL for Mental Health Struggles, Mayor Says

The Tragedy in Midtown Manhattan

A tragic incident unfolded in Midtown Manhattan when a man, Shane Tamura, used a semi-automatic rifle to kill four people in an office tower. According to New York Mayor Eric Adams, Tamura carried a note that seemed to blame the National Football League (NFL) for a degenerative brain disease he claimed to have. Tamura, a 27-year-old from Las Vegas and former high school football player, had a history of mental illness.

Tamura killed two security officers and two office workers before taking his own life on the 33rd floor of the Park Avenue skyscraper. This event marked the deadliest mass shooting in New York City in 25 years. The NFL has its headquarters in the same building, but Tamura mistakenly took the wrong elevator and ended up in the offices of Rudin Management, where he killed one employee.

"The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports," Adams told CBS News. "He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury," even though he never played at that level of American football.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a serious brain disease with no known treatment that can be caused by repeated shaking of the brain that occurs in contact sports. It is linked to aggression and dementia, and can only be diagnosed conclusively after death.

The NFL has paid over $1 billion to settle concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players after the deaths of several high-profile players. The league has also made changes to the sport to mitigate the risk of concussions.

Although Tamura was not an NFL player, online records show he played football at his California high school and was a varsity player at a Los Angeles charter school until graduating in 2016. The note found in his wallet said his football career was cut short by a brain injury and that the NFL had not done enough to address CTE in the sport, according to Bloomberg News.

A former coach, Walter Roby, told Fox News that Tamura was a "quiet, hard worker" and one of his "top offensive players" during the year he spent on the team at Granada Hills Charter School.

Fear and Shock

Wesley LePatner, a senior executive overseeing some of Blackstone's real estate operations, was among those killed by Tamura, according to the private equity firm, which also has its headquarters in the tower. Several other Blackstone employees were injured.

The skyscraper was closed to workers on Tuesday, as were some neighboring buildings, although much of Park Avenue continued to operate as usual. Chad Gordon, a 36-year-old strategist at an insurance firm, works in the building next door and often walks over to eat lunch or use the ATM.

"I luckily left about 20 minutes before the shooting happened," he said. "It's just terrifying."

The shooting follows last year's murder of a UnitedHealth executive outside a hotel about three blocks away from Monday's rampage. Prosecutors say the man charged with that murder targeted his victim as a symbol of corporate greed.

According to the police account, as soon as Tamura entered the lobby, he fatally shot a New York Police Department officer, Didarul Islam, 36, who came from Bangladesh. Islam was part of the building's security detail, police said.

Islam has two young sons, according to his cousin Mizanul Haque in his hometown in Bangladesh's Sylhet region. Hours before the killing, Islam had "laughed and chatted like always" with his cousin on the WhatsApp messaging app.

"When I heard the news, it felt like the sky had fallen on me," Haque told WHY NOT.

Tamura then shot a security guard stationed at a desk in the lobby. The guard was identified by his labor union 32BJ SEIU in a statement as Aland Etienne. He was "a dedicated security officer who took his job duties extremely seriously."

Etienne's brother said in a social media post that the family were heartbroken: "He was a father, a son and a light in our eyes," Gathmand Etienne said.

Tamura also killed LePatner before taking the elevator and exiting the Rudin offices.

An NFL employee was also injured and was in stable condition at a hospital, according to a memo sent by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to league staff.

Goodell wrote that an "increased security presence" was planned for the league's offices "in the days and weeks to come." A spokesperson for the NFL did not respond to queries about the shooter's reported motives.

History of Mental Illness

Tamura appeared to have driven to New York City from Las Vegas over three days and to have acted alone, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters on Monday night.

Security video circulated by police showed a man walking from a double-parked car into the tower carrying what police identified as an M4 Carbine, a large semi-automatic rifle popular with civilian U.S. gun enthusiasts modeled on a fully automatic rifle used by the U.S. military. In Nevada, unlike New York, no permit is needed to buy a rifle or carry it openly in public.

A widely circulated photo showed the permit issued to Tamura by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department allowing him to legally carry a concealed gun. He had recently worked as a security guard at a Las Vegas casino, Fox 11 News channel in Los Angeles reported.

On two occasions, in 2022 and 2024, records show law enforcement officials detained him for up to 72 hours under a "mental health crisis hold," which requires the detainee to be evaluated at a hospital, ABC News reported.