Shane Tamura, the Park Ave. gunman who killed an NYPD officer and three others earlier than taking his personal life, left behind a suicide observe saying he suffered from CTE, a mind harm usually linked to enjoying soccer, and was focusing on the NFL — however took the flawed elevator, officers mentioned Tuesday.
Tamura, 27, who performed aggressive soccer when he was younger, took problem with the NFL within the observe. He by no means performed for the NFL
“You may’t go in opposition to the NFL,” he wrote, police sources mentioned. “They’ll squash you.”
The observe, which is three pages lengthy and which Tamura had on him as he carried out his taking pictures rampage Monday, says he needs his mind to be studied, police sources mentioned.
One in three former NFL gamers, in response to a examine, consider they’ve CTE, continual traumatic encephalopathy. The neuropathological situation is linked to repeated head trauma however can solely be recognized via a postmortem examination.
“Please examine mind for CTE. I’m sorry,” Tamura wrote within the observe, the sources mentioned. “The league knowingly hid the risks to our brains to maximise earnings. They failed us.”
The NFL has workplaces on 4 decrease flooring of the constructing the place the taking pictures occurred.
“Now we have cause to consider that he was centered on the NFL company that was positioned within the constructing,” Mayor Adams advised MSNBC Tuesday morning. Adams confirmed he left a suicide observe that talked about CTE.
The taking pictures nevertheless, came about within the foyer and on the thirty third flooring, dwelling to Rudin Administration, the place police say he killed one girl earlier than taking pictures himself within the chest.
“He mistakenly went up the flawed elevator financial institution,” Adams advised PIX11 Tuesday, explaining how Tamura ended up on the flawed flooring.
Mayor Adams advised MSNBC that safeguards on the thirty third flooring saved lives.
“On the ground itself, there have been protected rooms, such because the loos, the place you had bulletproof doorways and also you have been capable of lock within the staffers inside,” he mentioned. “A number of people have been capable of lock themselves within the protected rooms and we consider it performed a significant function in not having a better lack of life.”
Tamura lived in Las Vegas and had a historical past of psychological sickness, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned at press convention Monday night time.
In his suicide observe, he wrote about Terry Lengthy, a former offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who at first was mentioned to have died in 2006 of cerebral meningitis associated to the CTE he was affected by. A coroner later decided he dedicated suicide by ingesting antifreeze.
“Soccer gave me CTE and it trigger me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” Tamura wrote.
Tamura drove cross-country and double-parked his black BMW when he arrived at 345 Park Ave., a 44-story skyscraper that takes up a whole block, from E. 51st to E. 52nd St.
Toting an M4, an assault-style rifle, he walked into the foyer of the constructing and opened fireplace, Tisch mentioned, first killing NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, who was working his second job as a safety officer on the constructing, Tisch mentioned.
The gunman shot two different folks within the foyer, killing one and badly wounding the opposite, earlier than taking the elevator to the thirty third flooring, Tisch mentioned.
The critically wounded survivor is an NFL government, police sources mentioned. He has since stabilized, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a memo to staffers, in response to ESPN.
“NFL employees are on the hospital and we’re supporting his household,” Goodell wrote. “We consider that each one of our workers are in any other case protected and accounted for.”
Goodell inspired workers to work at home Tuesday because the investigation continues and mentioned there can be elevated safety on the constructing within the weeks forward.
With Thomas Tracy
Initially Revealed: July 29, 2025 at 6:18 AM EDT
