NEW YORK (AP) — A gunman who killed four people inside a Manhattan office tower blamed his mental health problems on the National Football League and intended to target its headquarters but took the wrong elevator, officials said Tuesday.
Shane Tamura, a Las Vegas casino security worker, was carrying a handwritten note in his wallet that claimed he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known at CTE, investigators said. He accused the league of hiding the dangers of brain injuries linked to contact sports.
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CORRECTS TO NEVADA DEPT. OF MOTOR VEHICLES This undated image provided by Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles shows Shane Tamura. (Nevada Dept. of Motor Vehicles via AP)
New York Police officers arrive at the NYPD 47th Precinct where NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed Monday, served, in the Bronx borough of New York, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
This undated image provided by Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle shows Shane Tamura. (Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle via AP)
Members of the NYPD Crime Unit examine a door with bullet holes at the scene of the previous day's deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People embrace during the dignified transfer of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital to the medical examiner's office, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
NYPD officers bring out the body of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The residence of Shane Tamura, identified as the gunman in the fatal shooting at a Manhattan office building in New York City and who was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound is seen on Monday, July 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Ty O'Neil)
A New York police officer talks with a woman as she exits a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police officer stands watch on 52nd Street outside a Manhattan office building where at least two people were shot, including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The ambulance carrying the body of Didarul Islam exits NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital during the dignified transfer of the slain officer, who was shot and killed by a gunman Monday evening, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police investigator exits her vehicle at the scene outside a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Tamura, 27, sprayed the skyscraper's lobby with bullets then shot another person in a 33rd-floor office on Monday before he killed himself, authorities said. Among the dead were a police officer, a security guard and two people who worked at companies in the building. An NFL employee was badly wounded but survived.
The attacker's grievances with the NFL emerged as police worked to piece together his background and motivations, and as loved ones began to mourn the dead.
It's unclear whether Tamura showed symptoms of CTE, which can be diagnosed only by examining a brain after death.
Tamura, who played high school football in California a decade ago but never played in the NFL, had a history of mental illness, police said without giving details. In the three-page note found on his body, he accused the NFL of concealing the dangers to players’ brains for profit. The degenerative brain disease has been linked to concussions and other repeated head trauma common in contact sports such as football.
Detectives planned to question a man who supplied gun parts for the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack, including the weapon’s lower receiver, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a video statement.
She and members of the force also paid tribute to Officer Didarul Islam, who was guarding the building on a paid security job when he was killed. His flag-draped remains arrived late Tuesday afternoon at the Bronx mosque preparing for his funeral.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the scene and recalled working in the mailroom of the building as a young man.
“To have to walk through and see the remnants of violence at that level, tore at me,” he told mourners at an evening multifaith vigil for those killed.
Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and other faith leaders delivered prayers at the gathering held at a park about a dozen blocks from where the shooting took place.
Both Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke of the need for stronger gun laws. Hochul said guns designed to kill people on battlefields shouldn't be in New York buildings.
“We cannot respond to senseless gun laws through vigils,” Adams said.
Tamura's note repeatedly said he was sorry and asked that his brain be studied for CTE. He mentioned a PBS Frontline documentary about the disease and referred to former NFL player Terry Long, who was diagnosed with CTE, and the manner in which Long killed himself in 2005.
The NFL long denied the link between football and CTE, but it acknowledged the connection in 2016 testimony before Congress and has paid more than $1.4 billion to retired players to settle concussion-related claims.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who works out of the offices, called the shooting “an unspeakable act of violence,” saying he was deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers who responded.
Goodell said in a memo to staff that the injured NFL employee was hospitalized in stable condition.
The shooting happened at a skyscraper on Park Avenue, one of the nation’s most recognized streets, just blocks from Grand Central Terminal and Rockefeller Center. It is less than a 15-minute walk from where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed last December by a man who prosecutors say was angry over what he saw as corporate greed.
Monday's attack drew a response from the White House, with President Donald Trump posting that his “heart is with the families of the four people who were killed” and that the officer "made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Tamura, who worked in the security department at the Horseshoe Las Vegas but failed to show up for his shift Sunday, drove across the country over the past few days and into New York City just before the attack, Tisch said.
Surveillance video showed Tamura exit his BMW outside the building at about 6:30 p.m. Monday wearing a button-down shirt and jacket with the rifle at his side.
Once inside the lobby, he opened fire and killed Islam and Wesley LePatner, a real estate executive at the investment firm Blackstone, which occupies much of the building. Tamura then made his way toward the elevator bank, shooting the NFL employee and an unarmed security guard, Aland Etienne, who helped control access to the upper floors.
Tamura waited for the next elevator to arrive in the lobby, let a woman walk safely out of the elevator, then rode it up to the 33rd-floor offices of the company that owns the building, Rudin Management. He killed a worker for that company before killing himself, officials said.
Islam, 36, had served as a police officer in New York City for over three years and was an immigrant from Bangladesh, Tisch said. He was working a department-approved job, in his New York Police Department uniform, when he was shot.
Islam leaves a pregnant wife and two children. Friends and family stopped by their Bronx home on Tuesday to drop off food and pay their respects.
“He was a very friendly guy and a hardworking guy,” said Tanjim Talukdar, who knew him best from Friday prayers. “Whenever I see him or he sees me, he says, ’How are you, my brother?'”
This story was updated to correct that Tamura played high school football about a decade ago, not nearly two decades ago.
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo, Philip Marcelo and Julie Walker in New York; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia, Rob Maaddi in Tampa, Florida; Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey; and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
CORRECTS TO NEVADA DEPT. OF MOTOR VEHICLES This undated image provided by Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles shows Shane Tamura. (Nevada Dept. of Motor Vehicles via AP)
New York Police officers arrive at the NYPD 47th Precinct where NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed Monday, served, in the Bronx borough of New York, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
This undated image provided by Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle shows Shane Tamura. (Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle via AP)
Members of the NYPD Crime Unit examine a door with bullet holes at the scene of the previous day's deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People embrace during the dignified transfer of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital to the medical examiner's office, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
NYPD officers bring out the body of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The residence of Shane Tamura, identified as the gunman in the fatal shooting at a Manhattan office building in New York City and who was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound is seen on Monday, July 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Ty O'Neil)
A New York police officer talks with a woman as she exits a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police officer stands watch on 52nd Street outside a Manhattan office building where at least two people were shot, including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The ambulance carrying the body of Didarul Islam exits NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital during the dignified transfer of the slain officer, who was shot and killed by a gunman Monday evening, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police investigator exits her vehicle at the scene outside a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
