Suspected New York City gunman Shane Tamura was “focused on the NFL” during Monday’s deadly shooting that killed four people and left one of the football league’s employees seriously injured, according to reports.
“We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building,” Mayor Eric Adams said on MSNBC Tuesday morning.
Chaos broke out in Midtown on Monday evening after a gunman armed with a rifle entered the office building at 345 Park Avenue, which houses the NFL’s office, along with Blackstone and other businesses.
The shooter, identified as 27-year-old Tamura, killed four people, including an off-duty NYPD officer and a security guard, before turning the gun on himself.
After the shooting, authorities recovered a note left by the shooter that mentioned CTE, a brain disease that can be caused by repeated blows to the head, often found amongst former football players and those who take part in high contact sports.
“There’s no more than just the note at this time. As you indicated, he talked about CTE. He was not an NFL player,” Adams told MSNBC.
It was not immediately known whether Tamura had CTE. He played high school football in Southern California over two decades ago, according to The New York Times, but the disease can only be diagnosed after death.
“He seemed to have blamed the NFL,” the mayor said.
Even though the office building had “so many safeguards,” according to Adams, the security guard stationed at the front was killed at his desk. After “immediately opening fire” in the lobby, Tamura shot NYPD officer Didarul Islam, 36, who later died from his injuries, authorities said.
While the shooter meant to target the NFL offices, he accidentally went to the wrong floor of the busy office building, Adams told Good Day New York.
“There are two different elevator banks,” Adams said. “Some banks don’t go to every floor. He appeared to have gone to the wrong bank, and he ended up on the floor of Rudin Management.”
Police said Tamura took the elevator to the building’s 33rd floor, which houses the offices of Rudin Management. Inside the office, police say Tamura continued firing, striking and killing another person before shooting himself in the chest.
An NFL employee was among several injured in the fatal shooting, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told employees in a letter obtained by The New York Post.
“He is currently in the hospital and in stable condition. NFL staff are at the hospital and we are supporting his family,” Goodell wrote, promising in his message, “all of our employees are otherwise safe and accounted for.”
Authorities have not identified three of the victims, though they did name Islam, the fallen NYPD officer.
The investment firm Blackstone, which has offices at the location, confirmed one of its employees, identified as Wesley LePatner, was killed in the shooting.
“Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the company said in a statement obtained by the Times. “Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond.”
“She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family. We are also saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims as well, including brave security personnel and NYPD,” the statement concluded.
Police believe Tamura acted alone and that there is no longer a threat to the public.
The suspect was a native of Hawaii but raised in Santa Clarita, California. In addition to holding a concealed carry license for a handgun, he also had an expired private investigator's license.
Tamura also has “a documented mental health history,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday evening.
He appeared to have driven through Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa in the days leading up to the shooting, and was spotted in New Jersey just hours before the attack.
He did not have a significant criminal record, and Adams added there was no prior evidence he “was coming to New York to create any harm.”
The NYPD is leading the investigation into the shooting, with assistance from federal agencies, including the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
