Authorities say shooter in New York City blamed NFL for brain injuries
Adams said on Tuesday that a note carried by the shooter, identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, suggests his target was the NFL.
'The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports,' Adams told CBS News. 'He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.'
But Tamura appears to have arrived at the wrong floor of a New York City office tower and instead opened fire in the offices of a real estate firm, on top of shooting people in the ground-floor lobby.
The NFL has previously faced litigation relating to concussions suffered by football players.
The organisation, which oversees professional US football, has denied any link between conditions like CTE and its sport, but it has nevertheless paid out more than $1bn to settle concussion-related lawsuits.
Monday's shooting has also renewed debate about mass shootings and access to firearms in the US. Tamura reportedly entered the building with an AR-15-style rifle.
The NFL's headquarters are located in a skyscraper that it shares with other firms.
Tamara is believed to have started shooting as he entered the lobby of the skyscraper. Then, police believe he took the wrong elevator, arriving at the 33rd floor, which contained the offices of Rudin Management, a real estate firm.
There, he opened fire once more and then took his own life.
Among those killed in the shooting was a 36-year-old police officer named Didarul Islam, who had come to the US from Bangladesh and had been on the force for three years.
Other victims include security guard Aland Etienne, Julia Hyman of Rudin Management, and an executive at the BlackRock investment firm, Wesley LePatner.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in a memo that there would be an 'increased security presence' at the organisation's offices over the coming weeks.
Tamura is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, with a history of mental health issues. He never played in the NFL, but he did play football in high school.
The news outlet Bloomberg reported that Tamura's note alleges that his football career was cut short by a brain injury.
The note also called for his brain to be studied. CTE can only be diagnosed through an autopsy.
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Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Al Jazeera
What are US ‘red flag' gun laws; why didn't they stop New York shooter?
Law enforcement officials said Shane Tamura, the Las Vegas man suspected of killing four people on July 28 in a Manhattan office building, had a documented mental health history, raising questions about why he had access to guns. Police said Tamura, 27, fired an M4 rifle in the building that houses the NFL headquarters, killing four people, including a police officer working a corporate security detail, and then himself. News reports said Tamura, a former high school football player, had a note that said he had CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is associated with head injury. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on July 28 that police had heard about Tamura's mental health history from Las Vegas officials. She provided no further details. News reports, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said Tamura had two mental health crisis 'holds', which allow someone to be held involuntarily for evaluation and treatment for up to 72 hours, in Nevada in 2022 and 2024. Tisch said Tamura had a Nevada gun licence and used an AR-15 style assault rifle. Tamura legally purchased a revolver in June using his concealed carry permit, Tisch said. CBS and CNN published a photo of Tamura's 2022 permit issued by Las Vegas police. 'Red flag' laws are intended to remove weapons from unstable people before a violent act occurs. Sometimes the laws have different names, such as 'extreme risk protection orders' or, in Nevada, 'high risk protection orders'. The state attorney general does not list a mental health crisis hold as a reason for a high-risk protection order. Nevada's law allows law enforcement or family members to ask a court to issue an order to temporarily remove a person's firearms or the right to possess a gun if the person poses a threat to themselves or others. We asked the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department if it had taken steps to use that law to remove Tamura's access to firearms and received no reply to that question. Nevada's high-risk protection orders are part of a growing number of state laws that aim to prevent firearm injuries and deaths. The Nevada law has been little used since it took effect in 2020. Experts said it's not unusual for states to implement their red flag laws slowly, with some exceptions. Florida, for example, issued about 2,500 orders during the first 18 months after its 2018 law went into effect, said Veronica Pear, an expert on violence prevention and University of California, Davis assistant professor. What are red flag laws? Twenty-one states and Washington, DC, have passed red flag laws since 1999, many with Republican support. State laws specify who can start a civil petition process to remove or restrict access to weapons. Some states allow only law enforcement to request the orders. Other states allow family members or close contacts, such as coworkers or teachers, to file a petition. Most petitions are filed by law enforcement and are usually granted by courts. The application used by Nevada law enforcement asks the petitioner whether the person has a firearm and requests a detailed description of conduct and acts of high-risk behaviour. Nevada has weeklong and longer-term orders. The seven-day order comes after a hearing in which only one party's argument for action has been heard. An extended order can last up to a year. The 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed by former President Joe Biden, provided funding for states to implement red flag laws. The National Alliance on Mental Illness said when 'appropriately implemented, these laws can be lifesaving'. The organisation also said it is a harmful stereotype to link mental illness and violence. About 3 percent to 5 percent of violent acts are committed by people with serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. People living with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than members of the general population. Nevada's red flag law Nevada Democratic State Representative Sandra Jauregui, who was at a 2017 music festival where a gunman killed 58 people, sponsored Nevada's 2020 law. Former Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, signed the legislation, which Republicans opposed. Former Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the current Republican governor, campaigned in 2022 on a promise to 'remove antiquated laws', including Nevada's red flag law. But the law remains on the books with Democrats controlling the Legislature. Nationwide, these laws have been used more than 49,000 times through 2023, Everytown for Gun Safety found. Law enforcement attitudes and knowledge about red flag laws can affect how often they are used. Florida, New York, California and Connecticut filed orders a few thousand times each year. Nevada got off to a slow start, but has increased its use of the law in recent years. The Nevada attorney general's website shows 28 high-risk protection orders in 2024, and 20 in 2023. An office spokesperson said there were six orders so far in 2025. Are red flag laws effective? Analyses about whether red flag laws work as intended are mixed. The Rand Corp, a nonprofit public policy research organisation, reviewed studies about red flag laws in July 2024. Researchers found that evidence of the laws' effects on mass shootings and violent crime was inconclusive, and limited for suicide. Most of the laws have been implemented in the past decade, Rand found, so it is difficult to determine the effects of the laws. Also, there are state and local differences in how often the laws are used. Other researchers point to studies showing some benefits of red flag laws in reducing crime or suicide. In an August 2024 study, Columbia University public health researchers found that Florida's red flag gun law, passed in response to the 2018 Parkland mass shooting, was associated with an 11 percent reduction in firearm homicide rates from 2019 to 2021. One of the authors said the study did not find a significant reduction in firearm suicides and called for further study. Extreme risk protection orders are one important law in a network of laws that work to prevent people who may harm themselves or others from accessing firearms, Pear, the University of California, Davis professor, told PolitiFact in 2022. 'But there are other laws that are supported by evidence as well, such as prohibiting the purchase and possession of firearms after a violent misdemeanour conviction, waiting periods and firearm licensing laws.' Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this article.
Al Jazeera
29-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
Authorities say shooter in New York City blamed NFL for brain injuries
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said that a gunman who killed five people, including himself, sought out the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL), which he blamed for the brain injuries he suffered from. Adams said on Tuesday that a note carried by the shooter, identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, suggests his target was the NFL. 'The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports,' Adams told CBS News. 'He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.' But Tamura appears to have arrived at the wrong floor of a New York City office tower and instead opened fire in the offices of a real estate firm, on top of shooting people in the ground-floor lobby. The NFL has previously faced litigation relating to concussions suffered by football players. The organisation, which oversees professional US football, has denied any link between conditions like CTE and its sport, but it has nevertheless paid out more than $1bn to settle concussion-related lawsuits. Monday's shooting has also renewed debate about mass shootings and access to firearms in the US. Tamura reportedly entered the building with an AR-15-style rifle. The NFL's headquarters are located in a skyscraper that it shares with other firms. Tamara is believed to have started shooting as he entered the lobby of the skyscraper. Then, police believe he took the wrong elevator, arriving at the 33rd floor, which contained the offices of Rudin Management, a real estate firm. There, he opened fire once more and then took his own life. Among those killed in the shooting was a 36-year-old police officer named Didarul Islam, who had come to the US from Bangladesh and had been on the force for three years. Other victims include security guard Aland Etienne, Julia Hyman of Rudin Management, and an executive at the BlackRock investment firm, Wesley LePatner. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in a memo that there would be an 'increased security presence' at the organisation's offices over the coming weeks. Tamura is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, with a history of mental health issues. He never played in the NFL, but he did play football in high school. The news outlet Bloomberg reported that Tamura's note alleges that his football career was cut short by a brain injury. The note also called for his brain to be studied. CTE can only be diagnosed through an autopsy.
Al Jazeera
29-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
NYC Shooting: What we know about the victims, suspect Shane Tamura
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.
