The gunman who killed four people and wounded a fifth during a mass shooting at a midtown Manhattan office building on Monday left a note that claimed he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), possibly related to his time playing high school football, a law enforcement source confirms to Rolling Stone.
The man, identified as Shane Tamura, died by suicide following the shooting, which took place in the Park Avenue tower that houses the headquarters of the National Football League. The suspect had no known connection to the NFL.
The multi-page note, found in Tamura’s pocket, included his claim he had CTE linked to playing football at his high schools in southern California, the source says.
“Study my brain please. I’m sorry,” Tamura wrote, according to the source. The note also mentioned a 2013 Frontline documentary on the topic of CTE and referenced former NFL players who suffered from the disease.
Sources told ABC News that the note also accused the NFL of hiding football’s potential risks to players’ brains in order to maximize profits. “He blamed the NFL,” the law enforcement source tells Rolling Stone.
CTE, a neurodegenerative brain disease that has been connected to repeated blows to the head, has been seen in athletes, including hockey players and boxers, as well as military veterans. The disease, which was found in a study of donated brains of NFL players, has been associated with “impulsivity, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and explosivity,” according to one study. Symptoms can include loss of memory, changes in mood, confusion, and difficulty thinking clearly.
Tamura, 27, was a high school football player, but he never played professionally. Sources told NBC that so far, investigators have found no evidence he suffered a traumatic brain injury or was diagnosed with potential CTE, which can only be confirmed after death through an autopsy.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told Fox 5 on Tuesday that it “appeared” Tamura was “going after” NFL employees. In an interview with CBS, he said: “From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,” Adams said. “Instead, it took him to Rudin Management, and that is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees.”
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A friend who knew Tamura in high school tells Rolling Stone he “still can’t believe” how the deadly shooting unfolded. “It’s very astonishing,” Tyshon Thompson, who attended Golden Valley High School with Tamura in Santa Clarita, California, and played varsity football with Tamura’s older brother, says.
“He was a very talented kid – very smart, outspoken, very polite. That’s what blows my mind, honestly. He was a really polite and professional kid,” he says. “Honestly, he never exhibited violence.”
After police said Monday that Tamura had a “documented” history of mental health issues, a law enforcement source told The New York Times on Tuesday that Tamura was the subject of multiple mental health calls involving Las Vegas police. Tamura had mental health crises that required two separate, involuntarily 72-hour holds in 2022 and 2024, the source reportedly said.
The law enforcement source who spoke with Rolling Stone says Tamura had been working an overnight security job at the Horseshoe hotel and casino in Las Vegas before driving to New York and using his AR-15-style rifle to open fire. Tamura was scheduled to appear at the Horseshoe last Sunday but never showed up to work, the source says.
The four victims killed in the rampage were off-duty NYPD officer Didarul Islam; Wesley LePatner, an executive at Blackstone; security officer Aland Etienne; and Julia Hyman, an employee at Rudin Management. A fifth victim was wounded and taken to the hospital in critical condition, ABC News reported. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the “seriously injured” victim was an NFL employee.
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Additional reporting by Tessa Stuart