Source: China News Service / Getty
There have been over 200 mass shootings in America so far this year, and the latest comes with an even bigger shock factor because it happened in the heart of New York City and is related to the NFL.
On Monday evening, 27-year-old suspect Shane Tamura reportedly got out of a car on Park Avenue wearing body armor and holding an M4 assault rifle. He then marched into the 345 Park Avenue building and began spraying bullets in the lobby, with his gunfire hitting a police officer, another man, a security guard, and a woman. Then he took the elevator to the 33rd floor, where he shot a woman to death, then barricaded himself in there and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
The office building he targeted is the home of many high-profile companies like KPMG and Blackstone, but the one Tamura appeared to be targeting was the NFL, as discovered by the note found on his body.
Sources tell ABC that the note in his pocket accused the NFL of hiding the dangers to players’ brains for the sake of money, and a second page mentions CTE as it relates to the NFL, adding “Study my brain, please. I’m sorry.”
“He seemed to have blamed the NFL,” New York Mayor Eric Adams told local news stations. “The NFL headquarters was located in the building, and he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator bank.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a brain injury that comes from repeated hits to the head. Over time, those blows lead to neurodegeneration, or the killing of brain cells, which could negatively affect your mental ability and behavior. The condition has become a massive issue for the NFL as certain positions not only face repeated beatings to their body but also head-on collisions that are only protected by helmets. NFL players with CTE have exhibited erratic behavior, like Junior Seau, who committed suicide in 2012, and Aaron Hernandez, the Super Bowl champion, who was convicted of murder and committed suicide while serving a life sentence.
There’s no evidence just yet that the shooter had CTE, but he did play high school football. He does have documented mental health issues, though, having been on two mental health crisis holds, one in 2024 and one in 2022, the same year he got his concealed carry permit.
Of the five people shot, four died, and one —who was an NFL employee— is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
“One of our employees was seriously injured in this attack. He is currently in the hospital and in stable condition,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in the memo, according to ESPN. “NFL staff are at the hospital and we are supporting his family. We believe that all of our employees are otherwise safe and accounted for, and the building has nearly been cleared.”
See social media’s response to the shooting below.
