
A gunman who opened fireplace inside a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper Monday night might have been concentrating on the NFL’s New York headquarters, New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams mentioned Tuesday.
The taking pictures occurred round 6:20 p.m. on July 28 inside 345 Park Avenue, a high-rise that homes the NFL’s places of work together with a number of different corporations. Authorities recognized the suspect as Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas. Police mentioned Tamura entered the constructing’s foyer with an M4-style semiautomatic rifle and commenced firing.
4 folks had been killed: NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, who was off obligation and dealing safety; safety guard Aland Etienne; Wesley LePatner, an government at Blackstone; and Julia Hyman. An NFL worker was critically injured and stays in steady situation, in accordance with a memo from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
A bullet additionally struck a big NFL crest close to the elevator financial institution, police mentioned, citing surveillance footage.
In an interview Tuesday on CBS Mornings, Mayor Adams mentioned preliminary findings recommend Tamura “took the mistaken elevator financial institution as much as the NFL headquarters. As a substitute, it took him to Rudin Administration, and that’s the place he carried out further shootings and took the lives of further staff.”
Suspect’s Background and Motive
Authorities mentioned Tamura left behind a three-page word in his pocket. One message learn: “Examine my mind please. I’m sorry,” in accordance with ABC Information. One other web page allegedly blamed the NFL for concealing the dangers of persistent traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative mind illness linked to repeated head accidents.
“He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his damage,” Adams advised CBS Mornings. “He did have a word on him. The word alluded to that he felt he had CTE.”
Tamura had no recognized ties to the league. He performed highschool soccer in Los Angeles however didn’t play in faculty or professionally. On the time of the taking pictures, he labored in surveillance on the Horseshoe Lodge and On line casino in Las Vegas.
Regulation enforcement sources advised ABC Information that Tamura had been positioned on psychological well being disaster holds in Nevada, as soon as in 2022 and once more in 2024. These holds enable authorities to detain people for as much as 72 hours if they’re thought-about a hazard to themselves or others.
Investigators mentioned Tamura drove cross-country in a black BMW, which he double-parked exterior the Park Avenue constructing earlier than opening fireplace. Police later discovered a loaded Colt Python .357 revolver, further ammunition, two cellphones, and medicine within the automobile.
The Ongoing Investigation
Tamura legally bought the Colt revolver utilizing a Nevada hid carry allow obtained in 2022, in accordance with ABC Information. Authorities are actually investigating how he was in a position to entry firearms regardless of his psychological well being historical past.
“We actually want to take a look at permitting our federal regulation enforcement officers to entry the database of these with extreme psychological well being sickness,” Adams mentioned in an interview with CNN.
The NYPD mentioned two investigative groups had been dispatched to Las Vegas—one to execute a search warrant, and one other to help in tracing Tamura’s firearms.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul referred to as the taking pictures a “tragic reminder” of the constraints of state-level gun legal guidelines when high-powered weapons may be transported throughout state strains.
“The time to behave is now,” Hochul mentioned in a press release. “Congress should summon the braveness to face as much as the gun foyer and at last move a nationwide assault weapons ban earlier than extra harmless lives are stolen.”
She additionally ordered flags on state buildings to fly at half-staff in honor of the victims.
The New York Metropolis medical expert will look at Tamura’s mind for indicators of CTE, in accordance with ABC Information. The outcomes of the post-mortem might supply additional perception into his psychological state and the occasions main as much as one of many metropolis’s deadliest mass shootings lately.