Gunman kills 4, injures at least 5 in Manhattan skyscraper shooting
A gunman with a history of mental illness opened fire in an NYC skyscraper, killing four and injuring at least five before taking his own life.
NEW YORK CITY – Flags were flying at half-staff and the city was in mourning on Tuesday after a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle walked into a Park Avenue skyscraper and fatally shot four people before killing himself.
The victims of the shocking attack were identified as NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, security officer Aland Etienne, investment firm director Wesley LePatner and real estate associate Julia Hyman.
The 44-floor midtown Manhattan building houses the National Football League headquarters and offices of multiple firms. Mayor Eric Adams said preliminary investigations show the gunman may have intended to target the NFL but took the wrong elevator.
Bullet holes littered the windows at the entrance to the building at East 51st Street and Park Avenue. On a typical weekday afternoon, the plaza in front of the building would be buzzing with people in business attire sitting in the shade during their lunch or coffee breaks. On Tuesday, the benches and ledges were empty behind police barricades.
The suspect, 27-year-old Shane Tamura, left behind a three-page note claiming he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy from playing football, police said. CTE is a brain condition experienced by people who have repeated blows to the head, often through contact sports such as football.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said four people were killed and a fifth was wounded before Tamura turned the gun on himself. Craig Clementi, an NFL employee, was later identified as the injured individual.
Examinations of the people killed in the shooting were performed on Tuesday, New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told USA TODAY. Officials ruled the manner of death for all four victims was homicide.
In a video statement on Tuesday, Tisch said the suspected gunman had most recently worked an overnight security job at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, a casino and hotel located on the Las Vegas Strip. Tamura was scheduled to work on July 26 but never showed up, the police commissioner said.
The weapon used in the shooting, an AR-15–style rifle, was assembled by Tamura with a lower receiver that was purchased by another man police will question, according to Tisch.
She added that NYPD detectives are traveling to Las Vegas to conduct interviews and execute a search warrant at the suspect’s home. They will also visit the gun store where Tamura legally purchased a revolver on June 12 using his Nevada concealed-carry permit.
In New York, detectives were executing searching warrants on the suspect’s vehicle and two cellphones they found at the scene, according to Tisch. “This information will give us a detailed picture of how and why this happened, but it will not do anything to ease the pain of losing one of our own,” she said.
Clementi, who works in the finance department at the NFL, was wounded on Monday in the Manhattan shooting. But even after being struck in the back with a bullet, he kept trying to warn his colleagues of the danger.
First reported by The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Clementi was on the phone with fellow NFL employees amid the shooting encouraging them to evacuate. Clementi continued to call colleagues even while being transported to the hospital in an ambulance.
The man is in stable condition, according to reports.
His father-in-law, Robert Hunter, told the New York Daily News that Clementi “was on his way home when he got shot.” He “came through the surgery and there was some spinal damage,” but he is “doing well.”
Julia Hyman, an associate at Rudin Management, was identified as one of the four people killed in the Monday shooting, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff said in a statement.
Hyman, who was from Manhattan, was a 2020 graduate of the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration, according to Kotlikoff. She graduated summa cum laude with a major in hotel and restaurant administration, and a minor in real estate.
Before joining Rudin Management, Kotlikoff said Hyman’s first job after graduating was with Sagehall Partners, a private investment firm located in New York, according to company’s LinkedIn page. The university president noted that Hyman had visited Cornell earlier this year for her five-year reunion.
Hyman previously graduated from the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx in 2016, according to her LinkedIn page. She began working at Rudin Management in November 2024.
“We extend our deepest condolences to all the families whose loved ones were lost in this senseless act,” Kotlikoff said.
New Yorkers recount the moments before the New York City shooting
One New Yorker said he saw the suspected shooter walking towards an office building with a gun and “no one said a thing.”
Didarul Islam, 36, was a member of the NYPD force for 3 1/2 years. An immigrant from Bangladesh, he leaves behind a wife who is eight months pregnant and two young sons.
Adams ordered all flags on city buildings and stationary flagstaffs throughout the five boroughs to be lowered to half-staff until further notice in homage to Islam.
“Officer Didarul Islam died as he lived, a hero and protector of New York City,” Adams said in a social media post. “We will never forget you.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, also posted an homage to Islam on social media.
“When he joined the police department, his mother asked him why he would pursue such a dangerous job. He told her it was to leave behind a legacy that his family could be proud of,” Mamdani wrote. “He has done that, and more.”
Manny Pastreich, president of the 32BJ Service Employees International Union, identified one of the victims as Aland Etienne. Pastreich described Etienne as a “dedicated security officer who took his job and duties extremely seriously.”
“This tragedy speaks to the sacrifice of security officers who risk their lives every day to keep New Yorkers and our buildings safe,” Pastreich said in a statement. “Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated. Aland Etienne is a New York hero. We will remember him as such.”
Etienne’s brother said in a social media post that his family is heartbroken: “He was a father, a son and a light in our eyes,” Gathmand Etienne shared.
The Blackstone investment firm issued a statement saying one of its employees was killed.
“We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue,” the statement said.
According to LePatner’s profile on the firm’s website, she was a senior managing director of the firm, global head of Blackstone’s “Core+ Real Estate” and the CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. LePatner was a graduate of Yale University and served on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, according to the website. She had two children.
At Inside Park at St. Bart’s, a restaurant located in an old church garden, a couple of customers were seated on a sweltering Tuesday afternoon. The outdoor bar was empty as fans whirred and Katy Perry played in the background.
During a typical happy hour, the restaurant sees upwards of 60 people. It’s usually local office workers in the outdoor space, said Samnoon Ahmed, operations manager of the restaurant.
When the shooting happened the day before, the restaurant was serving 22 people – including six Blackstone workers. Ahmed soon heard gunshots ring down Park Avenue.
Then, they saw people run down the street, past the historic St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, which sits in between the scene of the shooting and Ahmed’s restaurant. Ahmed quickly closed the front metal gates as staff had customers shelter inside an old wing of the church until the NYPD said they could leave several hours later.
“We are not familiar with this kind of situation,” he said in an interview. “Things happen here and there, but not on Park Avenue.”
Things to know about New York City shooting suspect Shane Temura
Shane Temura drove from Las Vegas to New York in the days before he allegedly walked into a New York office building and opened fire.
The suspect, who reportedly shot himself in the chest, asked that his brain be studied for CTE, according to police. He also allegedly claimed in his three-page note that the NFL “knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us.”
The note referenced former NFL offensive lineman Terry Long, who had CTE and killed himself in 2005 by drinking antifreeze.
Adams told CNN on Tuesday that the medical examiner and Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will determine together whether Tamura’s brain will be tested for CTE.
The mayor also told the outlet that NYPD investigators said there was a woman in the elevator with Tamura who he allowed to leave.
− Karissa Waddick
CTE: What is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, its effect on football?
Former NFL player Phillip Adams’s brain is being tested for CTE or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Here’s how this brain disease affects athletes.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a degenerative brain condition that happens after repeated head injuries. It has been commonly associated with football players, and it can result even if they haven’t experienced a concussion. According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, symptoms do not generally begin appearing until years after the onset of head impacts.
Symptoms are similar to those found in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, according to Dr. Ann McKee, director of the UNITE Brain Bank at Boston University.
Several players, including lead plantiff Ray Easterling, sued the league in August 2011 over how it handled head injuries. The suit accused the NFL of trying to hide links between playing football and brain injuries. Easterling died by suicide in April 2012 at age 62.
The NFL and the players in the lawsuit reached a $765 million settlement the next year, with the league agreeing to pay for victims’ medical exams and continue research to study head trauma.
− Steve Gardner and Scooby Axson
Tamura’s alleged note expressed issues with the NFL, though he never played in the league, Adams said. Tamura played high school football at Granada Hills Charter School, a K-12 school in Los Angeles, during the 2015-16 season, according to MaxPreps.com.
“We are horrified by the violence in New York,” the school said in a statement. “It is heartbreaking, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the victims, their families, and affected communities.”
After police identified Tamura as the alleged shooter, a video went viral on social media showing him speaking after a September 2015 game in which he scored the winning touchdown.
“There was a lot of emotions and anger about this game,” Tamura said in the video. “We wanted to win this one real bad. We worked hard and practiced extra late for this game. This rivalry has been around longer than I have been alive. It’s a big one.”
He also played football at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita, California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post, said he had been briefed on the shooting.
“I trust our Law Enforcement Agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence,” Trump wrote. “My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD Officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice. God Bless the New York Police Department, and God Bless New York!”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One he had spoken to Adams since the shooting. He declined to say if he had spoken to the families of the victims.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul decried the loss of “four innocent lives in a horrific act of violence.” She made reference to the gunman’s assault-style rifle and urged Congress to to pass a nationwide ban on assault weapons.
“New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation. We banned assault weapons. We strengthened our Red Flag Law. We closed dangerous loopholes,” Hochul said in a statement. “But our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder.”
Hochul also directed flags of state government buildings at half-staff until all victims laid to rest.
“The violence we witnessed at the hands of this individual is sickening, unacceptable and it must stop here,” Hochul said. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, and we must confront this violence head on.”
Police received multiple reports of an active shooter inside the building, Tisch said at a news conference July 28, hours after the deadly rampage.
The suspect opened fire at an NYPD officer who was working a paid detail at the building, according to Tisch. He then shot a woman who “took cover behind a pillar and proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire,” the police commissioner said.
The suspect also shot a security guard who was behind a security desk and another man in the lobby, Tisch added. The gunman then entered the building’s elevator and went up to the 33rd floor, where the building’s owner, Rudin Management, is located.
“(The suspect) begins to walk the floor, firing rounds as he traveled,” Tisch said. “One person was struck and killed on that floor. He then proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest.”
The skyscraper at 345 Park Ave. is home to several high-profile tenants in addition to the NFL, among them KPMG, Blackstone Group and Bank of America’s financial center. Commercial giant Rudin Management owns the high rise structure, which was designed by Fox & Fowle Architects.
“Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific act and their families. We are incredibly grateful for the bravery of building security and law enforcement,” KPMG said in a statement to USA TODAY.
− Anthony Robledo
Hours after the shooting, several Manhattan blocks were still closed by police. The area is heavily marked by business offices and hotels. It’s steps away from several major tourist destinations, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Trump Tower.
Behind NYPD barricades, Armand Bramellari, 36, waited hours for his mom, a cleaner in the building, to be let out.
She was on the second floor when the shooting happened, he said. After seeing news of the shooting on X, he rushed over to pick her up, parking on a side street, he told USA TODAY.
Bramellari wondered how the shooter accessed the building, which normally requires a badge or access by security. “This . . . doesn’t happen,” he said, holding a pack of Marlboro Reds.
His family, originally from Albania, arrived thanks to his mom getting a lottery slot to enter the United States, he said. “She brought us here, and she’s got to die at work?”
Moments later, his mom finally appeared with a group of women. He passed an NYPD barricade and embraced her and the others before they went down a side street to his car.
A vehicle that was double parked outside of the Park Avenue building was registered under Tamura’s name in the state of Nevada, according to Tisch.
Inside the vehicle, Tisch said officers discovered a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition, magazines, a backpack and medication prescribed to Tamura. The police commissioner added that the vehicle was also searched by the NYPD bomb squad and was found to be clear of any explosives.
A preliminary investigation revealed the suspect’s vehicle had traveled across the country through Colorado on July 26, and Nebraska and Iowa on July 27, according to Tisch. The vehicle was also tracked in Columbia, New Jersey at 4:24 p.m. on July 28 before entering New York City.
“According to our law enforcement partners in Las Vegas, Mr. Tamura has a documented mental health history,” Tisch said.
Contributing: Reuters