The gunman identified in the mass shooting in New York on Monday that killed four victims – including a police officer – was a former high school football player who left a note complaining that the sport had given him the brain injury known as CTE.
Detectives are still trying to determine the motive behind 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura’s shooting spree in 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan on Monday. It ranks as the deadliest firearms attack in New York City in a quarter of a century.
Tamura shot and killed an off-duty police officer, Didarul Islam, 36, and three other victims. He also shot and seriously injured an employee of the National Football League (NFL) which has corporate offices in the skyscraper, and the New York police department (NYPD) is investigating whether he was targeting the NFL, having blamed the organisation for his perceived brain injuries.
At the end of the attack, Tamura rode an elevator up to the 33rd floor, where he killed a fourth person before taking his own life in the offices of the real estate company Rudin Management, which owns the targeted building.
The NFL’s offices are on floors lower than the one where Tamura died.
CNN reported that Tamura’s body was found with a note in his back pocket in which he said that he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The disease – which has similarities to Alzheimer’s – has been linked to repetitive blows to the head and concussions incurred by American football players.’
“Terry Long football gave me CTE,” part of the note said according to CNN.
It went on: “You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you.
“Study my brain please I’m sorry Tell Rick I’m sorry for everything.”
Long, a former player with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was one of the first NFL players to be diagnosed with CTE in 2005. He killed himself after drinking antifreeze that same year.
The identity of “Rick” was not immediately clear.
New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed the existence of the note on CBS’s This Morning. “He did have a note on him,” Adams said. “The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports. He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.”
The mayor added that early police investigations suggested that the shooter had been targeting the NFL. “We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building,” Adams remarked.
The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, said on Tuesday that a league employee had been seriously injured in the attack. The employee is in hospital in a stable condition.
Goodell said that security had been tightened in the Park Avenue offices. Addressing league staff, he said: “Every one of you is a valued member of the NFL family. We will get through this together.”
New York police said that Tamura travelled from his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, to the city. A search of his car uncovered a loaded revolver, ammunition and prescription medicines for Tamura, who had a history of mental health problems.
Public records show that he had acquired a security guard license, and reports suggest he had been working security at a Las Vegas casino. His voter registration showed him having no party affiliation.
As a teenager, he played competitive football as a running back at Golden Valley high school in Santa Clarita and later at Granada Hills Charter school in Los Angeles. A teammate from those days told the local LA news station ABC7 that he was a “great guy in general. He was just a guy who really enjoyed the sport, not problematic at all.”
A video recorded after a game between Granada Hills and a local rival school showed Tamura describing how his team came back from being 10-0 down to winning 35-31. “Definitely, definitely had to stay disciplined,” he said.
“Coach just kept telling us don’t hold your head down. We had to just keep playing, keep playing through it, just hold your heads up high and a good result is going to come.”
CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that has been found to be caused by repeated head injuries. It is most associated with contact sports as well as with military personnel who suffer traumatic brain incidents.
The NFL first publicly accepted there was a link between the disease and football in 2016, having resisted acknowledging the connection for years. The previous year a multimillion-dollar settlement was agreed between the NFL and thousands of former players.
Research conducted by Dr Ann McKee of the CTE Center at Boston University made the association irrefutable. A 2023 study from the center found that of 376 former NFL players whose brains were studied after death, 345 were diagnosed with CTE.
Symptoms of the disease include depression, headaches and sleeping problems. Last year, a study by Mass General Brigham in Boston of 2,000 former NFL players found that more than a third thought they had the disease and many reported having frequent suicidal thoughts.
