NYC shooting suspect claimed in suicide note he had CTE, slammed NFL
A New York Police officers gather at the scene on 52nd Street outside a Manhattan office building where two people were shot, including a New York police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
LOS ANGELES – The 27-year-old former running back for two Southland high schools who police say killed four people at the NFL headquarters building in Manhattan before killing himself had a suicide note in his pocket expressing grievances with the league and claiming he suffered from CTE, according to multiple media reports Tuesday.
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Authorities say Shane Tamura was seen carrying a long gun while entering the Park Avenue skyscraper that houses the NFL headquarters and the alternative investment management company Blackstone late Monday afternoon.
Police said Tamura opened fire in the lobby and then went to the 33rd floor and continued firing, killing four people including an off-duty New York Police Department officer who was working security at the building. He then shot himself.
The policeman was identified as Officer Didarul Islam, an immigrant from Bangladesh. Islam was with the department for 3 1/2-yeas, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a Monday night news conference.
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“He loved this city, and everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith. He was a true-blue New Yorker, not only in the uniform he wore, but in the spirit and energy of loving this city,” Adams said.
Adams added that Tamura was trying to target NFL headquarters but took the wrong elevator. Blackstone said one of its employees, Wesley LePatner, was among those killed.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said a league employee was “seriously injured” in the attack.
Tamura had lived in Las Vegas in recent years. He rushed for 616 yards and five touchdowns on 126 carries and caught 25 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns as senior for Granada Hills Charter High School in 2015, according to the high school sports website MaxPreps.
Tamura rushed for 774 yards and 11 touchdowns on 139 carries for Golden Valley of Santa Clarita as a junior in 2014, according to MaxPreps.
According to CNN, police said Tamura had a “documented mental health history,” but authorities were still investigating the motive for the attack.
Citing police, the cable news network reported that the note in Tamura’s pocket requested that his brain be studied for effects of CTE, the brain disease that’s been linked to head trauma in former football players and others, and reportedly said: “You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you.” (CNS)
