{"id":114173,"date":"2025-08-02T23:22:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T23:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114173\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T23:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T23:22:19","slug":"how-shane-tamura-went-from-high-school-football-star-to-the-nyc-shooting-mass-murderer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114173\/","title":{"rendered":"How Shane Tamura went from high school football star to the NYC shooting mass murderer"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a decade before he turned a Midtown NYC office building into a killing ground,<\/a> Shane Tamura stood out as a rising star on a high school gridiron.<\/p>\n

Police believe the 27-year-old shooter\u2019s obsession with CTE,<\/a> a brain disease football players often suffer from repetitive blows to the head, sent him on a deadly path to New York City\u2019s NFL headquarters on Park Ave.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s unclear if the once-promising varsity running back ever suffered from CTE or its effects, and there\u2019s no record that he played football, college or professional,<\/a> in the years leading up to Monday\u2019s massacre.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know about Tamura\u2019s life, how he got the assault rifle that he used to kill an NYPD officer<\/a> and three others,<\/a> and the timeline of the shooting, which ended with Tamura firing a fatal bullet into his own chest and leaving a note reading, \u201cstudy my brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

A standout player<\/p>\n

Tamura\u2019s skill on the field in high school earned him high praise from his coach at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., who described him in October 2014 as one of the most talented players he\u2019d seen in his 20-year career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a game-breaker. You definitely want the ball in his hands,\u201d Dan Kelley, Tamura\u2019s coach,<\/a> told The Signal, a Santa Clarita newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s even harder on himself when he doesn\u2019t take it all the way. I always have to remind him that not every play is going to go for a touchdown. \u2026 The sky is the limit with Shane.<\/a> If he dedicates himself to the weight room and becomes the best football player in this valley, I think he has that capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tamura himself had some words to share about his burgeoning football career: \u201cIt\u2019s great being a big part of everything and scoring a lot of touchdowns, but I have to keep getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He would soon transfer to Granada Hills, and in a short video interview<\/a> published by the Los Angeles Daily News on YouTube on Sept 19. 2015, he appeared shy as his interviewer heaped praise on him as a \u201cstandout running back\u201d whose huge fourth-quarter touchdown sealed the team\u2019s 35-31 come-from-behind victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were down 10-0. We definitely had to stay disciplined \u2014 our coach kept saying, \u2018Don\u2019t hold your heads down, don\u2019t\u00a0hold your heads down.\u2019 Just had to stay disciplined and come together as a team,\u201d Tamura said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had to keep playing, keep fighting through it and just hold our heads up high and then a good result is gonna come.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s unclear if his sports career ever progressed past high school, and he never played in the NFL.<\/a><\/p>\n

His family moved to Las Vegas, and they kept to themselves, neighbors on their block told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

State records show he got a security guard license<\/a> in California and a private investigator license in Nevada in 2019, but let both expire.<\/p>\n

\"ShaneSuspected shooter Shane Tamura.<\/p>\n

Most recently, he worked at the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never would have thought violence was something you\u2019d associate with him,\u201d Caleb Clarke, one of Tamura\u2019s former classmates, told NBC News.<\/a> \u201cEverything he said was a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another friend, Julian Torres, who said he played football with Tamura from the second grade through high school in Santa Clarita, told the New York Times, \u201cThis is not something I would expect of him. \u2026 He was a good kid. It\u2019s kind of crazy to see. He was smart, athletic, came from a good family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torres told the Times that a group of Tamura\u2019s high school friends had a chance encounter with him<\/a> in Vegas a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seemed cool, he seemed normal, like the same person they remembered,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

Mental illness, weapons<\/p>\n

But Tamura\u2019s life took a sharp turn several years ago as there were signs he was struggling psychologically while also acquiring weapons.<\/p>\n

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch<\/a> said Tamura had a \u201cdocumented mental health history,\u201d with indications he had been placed under two mental health holds in Nevada, in 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch speaks at New York Presbyterian Hospital following an active shooter in Midtown Monday, July 28, 2025. (Barry Williams\/New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

In 2022, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer saw Tamura on the street behaving like he might be a threat to himself, and cops took him to a hospital where he was put on a psychiatric hold, CNN reported. <\/a><\/p>\n

He was also busted for trespassing in Las Vegas in September 2023, public records show.<\/p>\n

Tamura refused to show his ID when he tried to collect $5,000 he won at the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, according to ABC News,<\/a> which cites a Las Vegas police report.<\/p>\n

Staff there asked him to leave, but he wouldn\u2019t go without his money, and a cop arrested Tamura after he grabbed a casino security officer, according to the report. Prosecutors declined to pursue the charge.<\/p>\n

None of that likely would have prevented him from legally buying a gun, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review Journal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gun sellers in Nevada have been required to perform background checks on buyers since 2020, and a person with a felony conviction or a long-term involuntary mental heath commitment would be barred from purchase.<\/p>\n

An emergency mental health crisis hold isn\u2019t enough to stop someone from buying a gun, though, according to experts who spoke to the Review Journal.<\/p>\n

On June 14, 2022, Tamura got a concealed firearms permit<\/a> from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.<\/p>\n

Then, on June 12, seven weeks before the shooting, he legally purchased a Colt Python .357 caliber revolver<\/a>, which the NYPD found in his vehicle. Cops found the empty box for the gun in his Nevada apartment.<\/p>\n

\"GunGun that was recovered by NYPD that were used in the Park Ave. shooting. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

At some point, he bought the murder weapon from his supervisor at the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, according to police.<\/p>\n

The supervisor, named Rick, legally purchased the weapon, an AR M-4 assault-style rifle<\/a> with a scope and a barrel flashlight attached. He, in turn, sold it to Tamura for $1,400, police said.<\/p>\n

\"AA gun recovered from the scene of the shooting on Park Ave by Shane Tamura. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

Rick also sold Tamura the BMW he used to drive cross-country to New York, cops said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell Rick I\u2019m sorry,\u201d Tamura wrote in a suicide note found in his wallet.<\/p>\n

Rick, who cops say has been cooperating and confessed to selling the rifle, hasn\u2019t been charged with a crime. Nevada doesn\u2019t prohibit the purchase of assault rifles, and gun sellers aren\u2019t required to be licensed with the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not allowed to talk to you,\u201d Rick told a Daily News reporter before hanging up Tuesday.<\/p>\n

When police searched Tamura\u2019s apartment after the shooting, they found a tripod for the rifle and three prescription medication bottles: one for an anti-inflammatory, one for epilepsy medication and one for an antipsychotic.<\/p>\n

They also found a second suicide note that read:<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWhen I look into you and dad\u2019s eyes all I see is disappointment. I love you, Momma. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

A deadly rampage<\/p>\n

Tamura double-parked his BMW on Park Ave. and walked into the building at about 6:30 p.m. July 28, sparking more than 40 calls to 911 as he walked across an open plaza into 345 Park Ave., near 51st St., the rifle in his hand.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FootageFootage obtained by the Daily News shows a man carrying what appears to be an assault rifle entering 345 Park Ave. before reports of a shooting. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

In the lobby, he encountered Officer Didarul Islam<\/a>, who was in his NYPD uniform working a paid security detail, and shot him dead.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam assigned to the 47th precinct in the Bronx. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

As as he made his way to the elevator banks, he shot and killed security guard Aland Etienne<\/a>, 46. Etienne, already wounded, dove behind a security desk, then crawled to an elevator control panel in a desperate, futile bid to push the button that would shut the elevators down.<\/p>\n

\"ShootingShooting victim Aland Etienne.<\/p>\n

Tamura killed Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner<\/a>, 43, and badly wounded an NFL executive leaving work, who called his office to warn them a shooter was on the loose.<\/p>\n

\"WesleyWesley LePatner. (Blackstone)<\/p>\n

The killer then walked into an elevator, apparently looking for the NFL, which has space on four of the building\u2019s lower floors. But he picked the wrong elevator bank and ended up on the 33rd floor, where the offices of Rudin Management are located.<\/p>\n

Two sources who viewed surveillance footage said Tamura looked \u201cpissed and angry\u201d he was on the wrong floor, and started firing through glass doors before kicking in the door to the Rudin offices.<\/p>\n

Sebije Nelovic,\u00a0a cleaning worker<\/a> on the floor, narrowly avoided death \u2014 she made a left turn down a corridor just as Tamura, heading down the same hallway, turned the opposite direction, police said.<\/p>\n

Rudin employee Julia Hyman<\/a>, 27, was in a bathroom. When she stepped out, Tamura fatally shot her, cop sources said.<\/p>\n

\"ShootingShooting victim Julia Hyman.<\/p>\n

Moments later, Tamura shot himself to death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a decade before he turned a Midtown NYC office building into a killing ground, Shane Tamura…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-114173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-crime","23":"tag-sub-county-region","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114961747256529271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}