NYC Shooting: What we know about the victims, suspect Shane Tamura

Al Jazeera

5 days ago

A lone attacker armed with an assault-style rifle killed four people, including a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, before fatally shooting himself inside a skyscraper in New York's Manhattan area, according to the police.
The shooting is still under 'active investigation', New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at a news conference late on Monday. Police said the motive behind the shooting was still unknown.
The rampage happened at the skyscraper – home to the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL) and Blackstone, one of the world's largest investment firms, among others.
So, who were the victims of the latest mass shooting in the United States? Who was the suspect, and what was his motive?
What more do we know about the shooting?
The incident took place after 6pm local time (22:00 GMT) on Monday at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.
Police Commissioner Tisch said surveillance video showed the man exiting a BMW just before 6:30pm carrying an M4 rifle, then marching across a public plaza into the building.
Then he started firing, killing a police officer working a corporate security detail and then hitting a woman who tried to take cover as he sprayed the lobby with gunfire.
The man made his way to the lift and shot a guard at a security desk, and shot another man in the lobby.
He then took the lift to the 33rd-floor offices of the company that owned the building, Rudin Management, and shot dead one person on that floor.
The bloodshed came to an end when the attacker fatally shot himself in the chest.
Local TV footage showed lines of people evacuating the office building with their hands above their heads in the hours after the killings.
'It felt like it was a quick two shots and then it was rapid fire,' Nekeisha Lewis told The Associated Press news agency.
Windows shattered, and a man ran from the building saying, 'Help, help. I'm shot,' Lewis, who was eating dinner with friends on the plaza, said.
This shooting is the 254th mass shooting in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive – a nonprofit that tracks gun-related violence.
The group defines a mass shooting incident as one in which four or more people, excluding the attacker, are killed or injured by firearms.
Where in Manhattan did the shooting occur?
'What we know so far,' said Tisch, is that 'surveillance video shows a male exit a double-parked black BMW on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets, carrying an M4 rifle in his right hand.'
He then walked into the 44-storey skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue, which is home to several big firms, including KPMG and Deutsche Bank.
The building, about a block east of St Patrick's Cathedral, is located near Rockefeller Centre, just a few blocks south of Central Park.
The shooting took place at the end of a workday, in the same part of Manhattan where the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was shot dead outside a hotel late last year.
What do we know about Shane Tamura, the suspect?
'The shooter is believed to be Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old male with a Las Vegas address,' Tisch said.
'His motives are still under investigation. We are working to understand why he targeted this particular location,' she added.
Preliminary checks of the suspect's background did not show a significant criminal history. However, he did have a history of mental illness.
Investigators searched the suspect's car at the scene and found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver and ammunition, as well as a backpack and medication prescribed to the attacker, Tisch said.
She said an initial investigation shows Tamura's vehicle travelled across the country, passing through Colorado on July 26, then Nebraska and Iowa on July 27.
The car was in Columbia, New Jersey, as recently as 4:24pm on Monday. He drove into New York City shortly thereafter, she said.
Tisch also said there were no indications that Tamura had prior connections to the city.
What do we know about the victims and the officer who was killed?
NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was among the victims, was hailed as a hero. The 36-year-old was an immigrant from Bangladesh who had served as a police officer for the past three and a half years, Tisch said.
'He was doing the job that we asked him to do. He put himself in harm's way. He made the ultimate sacrifice,' she said. 'He died as he lived – a hero.'
New York City Mayor Eric Adams described him as a 'true blue' hero.
'He was saving lives, he was protecting New Yorkers,' Adams said. 'He loved this city, and everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God.'
Islam was married, with two young boys. 'His wife is pregnant with their third child,' Tisch said.
Authorities offered few details about the three other victims killed by the suspect – two men and a woman.
The final victim was struck in Rudin Management's office. It is one of the oldest real estate firms in New York, and owns the entire building.
A third male was gravely wounded by the gunfire and was 'fighting for his life' in a nearby hospital, Mayor Adams said.
Later, the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, identified an employee of the league as the injured victim.
'As has been widely reported, a gunman committed an unspeakable act of violence in our building at 345 Park Avenue. One of our employees was seriously injured in this attack. He is currently in the hospital and in stable condition,' Goodell said in a message to employees.
Commissioner Tisch said the names of the victims were being withheld until their families were notified.
Is the area safe now?
After the shooting, a large police presence converged on the area around the tower, according to the Reuters news agency.
But by the early hours of Tuesday morning, police were allowing some 345 Park Avenue office workers back into the building to collect their belongings.