New York gunman targeted NFL office ‘in revenge plot for brain injury’, note reveals

The gunman was identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura from Las Vegas

A gunman who killed four in a shooting at a Manhattan skyscraper was carrying out a revenge plot against the National Football League (NFL), a note left at the scene suggested.

Chaos engulfed Midtown Manhattan during rush hour on Monday when the gunman stormed the building, which acts as the headquarters of the NFL and hedge fund giant Blackstone, and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.

The gunman, who eventually turned the weapon on himself, was identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura from Las Vegas.

His body was found on the 33rd floor of the 44-storey building and died from a self-inflicted injury. At least five other people were injured in New York City’s deadliest shooting in 25 years.

Authorities found a note with his body that suggested he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition linked to repeated trauma to the head.

The condition can cause mood and behavioural changes, including aggression, emotional instability, depression and increased risk of suicidal thoughts.

The three-page note reportedly suggested that Tamura’s condition may have been linked to playing football in high school.

“Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” Tamura wrote, according to CNN, in an apparent reference to the Pittsburgh Steelers player, who took his own life by drinking antifreeze in 2006, after suffering from the same condition.

“You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you,” the note continued, “study my brain please I’m sorry Tell Rick I’m sorry for everything.”

Stills captured from a security camera show Tamura, wearing a sports coat with a buttoned shirt and armed with a large AR-15-style rifle, marching into the office block moments before firing on those inside at about 6.30pm local time (11.30pm UK).

His body was found by authorities between 7.15pm and 7.30pm, after he shot himself in the chest, according to The New York Post.

Jessica Tisch, the New York police commissioner, said the gunman was believed to have acted alone, and investigators had yet to determine a possible motive for the shooting, though she believed he had a “documented mental health history”.

He had recently been fired as a security guard at a casino in Las Vegas and had previously been charged with trespassing in Nevada in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal

In the past few days, the former high school football player had driven from Las Vegas – where he was a registered gun owner – to New York, via Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and New Jersey.

He did not appear to have ever played football professionally or at college.

During the Monday evening rush hour, he double-parked his black BMW outside the skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue before entering the lobby where he opened fire.

He fatally shot Didarul Islam, a 36-year-old NYPD officer, then killed a woman as she took cover behind a pillar.

The woman was later named by the Wall Street Journal as Wesley LePatner, a top executive at Blackstone, who was on her way to meet a colleague for a drink.

Tamura then moved through the lobby, “spraying” it with gunfire. Aland Etienne, a 46-year-old security guard crouching behind a desk, was also killed, and an NFL employee identified by The Athletic as Craig Clementi was wounded.

Wesley LePatner was killed in the attack - Blackstone Inc./HONS

Aland Etienne also died in the shooting

Mr Clementi, reportedly struck in the back by a ricocheting bullet, was initially said to be critically injured, before the NFL said on Tuesday his condition was stable.

Leaving three dead bodies in the lobby, Tamura then called a lift, according to Ms Tisch. When it arrived, a woman exited and the gunman spared her, allowing her to pass.

He headed up to the 33rd floor where real estate giant Rudin Building Management is located, missing the NFL offices on floors five to eight, apparently by mistake.

Once there, he shot another woman, named by The New York Post as Rudin employee Julia Hyman, before barricading himself inside a room and turning the gun on himself.

Four others in the office block sustained minor injuries as they fled the scene.

Multiple 911 calls were registered at 6.28pm local time. Videos shared online showed officers in protective gear entering the building at 365 Park Avenue with their guns drawn.

News of the shooting quickly spread throughout the 44-floor building, where officers barricaded doors using sofas and other office furniture stacked floor to ceiling in an effort to prevent the shooter from entering.

Terrified staff barricade themselves in their office - ABC7

The building houses the offices of Blackstone and the Consulate General of Ireland. It is located in a busy area of Midtown, located a short walk north from Grand Central Terminal and about a block east of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

It is home to a number of other financial firms, including KPMG and Deutsche Bank.

When officers searched Tamura’s car, they found a loaded revolver, ammunition, a rifle case and prescription medication. The bomb squad said the vehicle was found to be clear of explosives.

Shane Tamura was armed with a large AR-15-style rifle when he opened fire

Officer Islam, the police officer killed in the attack, was a married father of two, whose wife is reportedly pregnant with their third child.

Ms Tisch said Islam, who was working on a paid security detail in the building, had “put himself in harm’s way” and “made the ultimate sacrifice – shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city”.

He was described by authorities as a heroic Bangladeshi immigrant who saved lives while “putting his life on the line”.

“We lost four souls to another senseless act of gun violence, including a member of the New York City Police Department, Officer Islam,” Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, told reporters.

Mr Adams said the officer was a three-and-a-half-year veteran of the police department.

“He was saving lives, he was protecting New Yorkers,” Mr Adams said. “He loved this city, and everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God.”

Mr Adams said he met the officer’s family on Monday night, telling them Islam “was a hero, and we admire him for putting his life on the line”.

Didarul Islam was described as a hero

Mr Adams said Tamura was targeting the NFL specifically but entered the wrong lift and mistakenly ended up in the Rudin offices.

“He did have a note on him. 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 told CBS Mornings.

Authorities are now attempting to piece together Tamura’s motive for carrying out the mass shooting.

According to US media, he played American football at secondary school in California, and was listed as 5ft 7 and 140lbs in his final year.

He won several “player of the game” awards, was praised as a “stand-out running back” by the Los Angeles Daily News, and a former coach remembered him as “elusive” and a “great player”.

In a statement, Blackstone paid tribute to LePatner, a married mother of two, as “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond”.

Emergency crews carry what appears to be an injured police officer from the scene - GETTY IMAGES

President Donald Trump said: “I have been briefed on the tragic shooting that took place in Manhattan, a place that I know and love.”

“I trust our Law Enforcement Agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence,” he continued, in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Office worker Shad Sakib told AFP that he was packing his things to leave work when a public address announcement warned him and his colleagues to shelter in place.

“Everyone was confused with like, ‘Wait, what’s going on?’ And then someone finally realised that it’s online, that someone walked in with a machine gun,” said the witness.

“He walked right into a building right next door. We saw the photo of him walking through the same area that I walked through to get lunch here.

“You would think it won’t happen to you, and then it does.”

Some finance workers at an office building down the block were picking up dinner at a corner eatery when they heard a loud noise and saw people running.

“It was like a crowd panic,” said Anna Smith, who joined the workers pouring back into the finance office building.

The FBI said agents from its New York field office were also responding to provide support at the scene.

New York’s senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who are both Democrats, posted on social media that they were praying for those affected by the shooting.

“We must do more to stop gun violence in America,” Mr Schumer wrote.

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