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Toronto Sun
01-08-2025
- Health
- Toronto Sun
NYC shooter's brain will be tested for CTE, officials say
Published Aug 01, 2025 • 6 minute read This undated image provided by Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle shows Shane Tamura. (Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle via AP) AP The brain of the gunman in Monday's deadly shootings at the Manhattan building that houses the NFL's offices will be evaluated for the degenerative disorder from which he claimed to be suffering, according to the city's medical examiner's office. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A spokesperson for New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner said testing and evaluation for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) will take place over multiple weeks in an assessment of possible diseases of the brain, spinal cord and nerves of the shooter, identified by authorities as 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas. '[T]he medical examiner is performing a neuropathology assessment as part of the complete autopsy,' a member of the office's public affairs and communications staff wrote in an email Thursday to The Washington Post. Asked to clarify whether screening for CTE, which typically involves a special diagnostic staining process, is certain to be part of the assessment, the office said by email: 'Yes, our office has neuropathology expertise in house. The nature of the testing is expected to take multiple weeks.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Four people, including a New York City police officer, were killed when the gunman opened fire Monday inside the high-rise office building in Midtown Manhattan. The gunman then fatally shot himself in the chest, authorities said. An NFL employee was wounded in the shooting at 345 Park Avenue. Investigators found a three-page handwritten note in Tamura's wallet that referenced CTE, according to a person familiar with the law enforcement investigation. 'Study my brain please,' the note read. According to a copy of the note obtained by the New York Post, the gunman also apparently mentioned by name Boston University, a leader in CTE research, and prominent researchers, including Ann McKee and Bennet Omalu. New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) did not specify Tuesday whether Tamura's brain will be tested for CTE, saying during an interview with CNN: 'The medical examiner here in the city, he will make that determination on the next steps in collaboration with the district attorney in Manhattan County.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. CTE can only be diagnosed posthumously. The brains of many high-profile athletes have been donated to the UNITE Brain Bank and studied at Boston University's CTE Center. Its CTE diagnoses include Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL tight end who was serving a life sentence for murder when he died by suicide in 2017 and was diagnosed with stage 3 CTE, and Phillip Adams, a 32-year-old former NFL player who killed six people and himself in 2021 and was found to have stage 2 CTE. Chris Nowinski, the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which works with the BU center and helps operate the brain bank, said he didn't anticipate Tamura's brain making its way to BU's researchers unless requested by New York's medical examiner's office. Unlike medical examiners in many other cities, the New York City office has doctors qualified to make a CTE diagnosis, he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'They have neuropathologists on their team who understand CTE,' Nowinski said in a phone interview. 'They can do the study for CTE and all other known brain abnormalities themselves. Whether they ask anyone to review their findings, I don't know. But I have full confidence in them.' Nowinski said he was confident that CTE would be among the pathologies looked for by the New York officials. In a more routine case, CTE might not be on the checklist. The diagnostic process involves first fixing a brain sample in a formalin solution to harden. Researchers then stain the sample to highlight deposits of tau protein, an indicator of CTE. 'I'm sure they'll probably do the same kind of work-up we do,' Nowinski said. 'We don't just look for CTE. We look for all brain abnormalities – could see genetic disorders, tumours, all sorts of things.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He cautioned that even if Tamura is determined to have CTE, that wouldn't necessarily explain his actions in the Manhattan high-rise and certainly wouldn't rule out other contributing factors such as mental illness, genetic disorders or drug use. Experts in the field don't expect quick answers. The process for studying the brain and diagnosing CTE can take two or more weeks and wouldn't necessarily be made public until the medical examiner's office and investigators choose to release the findings. In the case of Adams, a CTE diagnosis wasn't made public for eight months. Most high-profile CTE cases have been linked to NFL players, and researchers don't know how prevalent CTE might be in athletes who only played through high school. One 2023 study from Boston University focused on athletes who died before the age of 30. It included the brains of 45 players who didn't play football beyond high school; 14 of them – 31 percent – were found to have CTE. (Researchers note the brains were donated by families who sought a neuropathologic examination and might have suspected CTE.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tamura played football in high school but not college or the NFL. The note found in his wallet cited Terry Long, a former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman who took his own life in 2005. The Allegheny County coroner's office first ruled Long died of meningitis, but a revised death certificate filed one month later listed the manner of Long's death as suicide from drinking antifreeze. The medical examiner's office called Long's football-related brain injuries a contributing factor to his death but said he did not die as a direct result of them, the Associated Press reported in January 2006. The note found in Tamura's wallet said the 'league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits' and 'failed us.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Adams said in broadcast interviews Tuesday that the shooter was targeting the NFL. 'From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,' Adams told CBS. 'Instead, it took him to Rudin Management. And that is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees.' The NFL has closed its offices through at least the end of next week. Commissioner Roger Goodell instructed employees to work remotely until then. Goodell participated in a virtual town hall for NFL employees Wednesday and spoke to NBC from the New York area during its broadcast of Thursday night's Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. 'It's a difficult thing, particularly when you're dealing with a senseless act like this,' Goodell said. 'There are no excuses for those senseless acts. They're hard for all of us to understand. When it inflicts pain on people you know and people you care about and people that we deal with on a daily basis, that's particularly hard.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Goodell attended police officer Didarul Islam's funeral Thursday. 'It hits home,' Goodell said. 'The loss – the unnecessary and unexplainable loss. … It was a difficult, emotional afternoon but also a tremendous, heartwarming service for him.' Goodell said he spent about an hour at a hospital Wednesday with the NFL employee, Craig Clementi, who was injured in the shooting. Goodell did not refer to Clementi by name but called him an 'amazing young man.' He called his condition 'stable and improving' and added: 'We're optimistic about his recovery.' The NFL held a moment of silence before the kickoff of Thursday night's preseason-opening game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions. 'This is an attack on humanity,' Goodell said. 'This is an attack on our communities. This is an attack on New York. This is an attack on our way of life.' Read More Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA World World Tennis
Toronto Sun
30-07-2025
- Toronto Sun
Questions emerge about NYC gunman's mental health and his security-sensitive job in Las Vegas
Published Jul 30, 2025 • 4 minute read This undated image provided by Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle shows Shane Tamura. (Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle via AP) AP LAS VEGAS (AP) — The man who stormed a Manhattan office tower with a gun, killing four people before killing himself, worked in the surveillance department of a Las Vegas casino, part of an industry built on watching for threats before they unfold. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Shane Tamura, 27, didn't show up to work his usual shift Sunday at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. Instead, authorities say, he got in his car and drove across the country to carry out a mass shooting inside the skyscraper that houses the National Football League's headquarters. A fifth person, an NFL employee, was wounded in the Monday attack. As investigators work to uncover a motive, questions are being raised about how a man with a documented history of mental health problems — and a recent arrest for erratic behavior at another casino — ended up working in one of the most security-sensitive jobs in Las Vegas. Caesars Entertainment, which owns the Horseshoe, confirmed Tamura's employment but has yet to disclose the nature of his role or whether he was authorized to carry a weapon. A spokesperson didn't respond to emails asking whether Tamura's job required him to hold a valid work card from the state Private Investigator's Licensing Board, which is needed to work as a private security officer in Nevada. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. State licensing records show Tamura previously held a state-issued license as a private security officer, though it had expired in December. While he held that license, Tamura was arrested at a casino in suburban Las Vegas. A report on the September 2023 arrest says he was asked to leave after he became agitated with casino security and employees who asked him for his ID, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge. Prosecutors later dismissed the case. Tamura left a note saying he had CTE Tamura had a history of mental illness, police said without giving details. Authorities have not provided more specific information about Tamura's psychiatric history but are investigating claims he included in a handwritten note he left behind, in which he said he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Officials said he had intended to target the offices of the NFL, which he accused of hiding the dangers of brain injuries linked to contact sports, but he took the wrong elevator. Tamura's family members did not respond to messages seeking comment. No one answered a knock at the door of his family's Las Vegas home on Monday. Tamura didn't play professional football but was a standout running back during his high school years in Southern California, where he was born, according to local news accounts at the time, including one that described his abilities as 'lightning in a bottle.' One of his former coaches, Walter Roby, said he did not remember Tamura sustaining any head injuries in his playing days. He recalled an ankle injury, 'but that was the extent of it.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'He was a quiet dude, soft spoken, humble and led by his work ethic more than anything else,' Roby told The Associated Press. 'His actions on the field were dynamic.' This image from surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press shows Shane Tamura outside a Manhattan office building on Monday, July 28, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo) AP Former classmates and neighbours say he didn't stand out Some of Tamura's former classmates seemed stunned by the shooting, and several said they had lost contact with him. But numerous others who say they were in Tamura's grade at Golden Valley High School, which has over 2,000 students, weren't familiar with him. Some of Tamura's neighbors in Las Vegas also said they didn't recognize him after seeing his photo shared in news reports about the shooting. 'They were so unremarkable, or maybe they were never home when I was home,' neighbour Wendy Malnak said about Tamura and his family. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Malnak, whose house is diagonally across from Tamura's, has lived in the neighbourhood since 2022. She said many of the residents on what she described as a quiet street keep in touch regularly and look out for each other, and yet none of them seemed to notice Tamura or his family before police officers showed up Monday night and surrounded their house. Authorities work to piece together Tamura's steps Las Vegas police said Tuesday they were 'supporting the NYPD with their investigation' but have not released details about the police activity Monday at Tamura's home. Two groups of New York City detectives were on their way to Las Vegas to conduct interviews and search the home, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Authorities said they were also questioning an associate of Tamura who bought a component of the AR-15-style assault rifle used in the attack. Tisch said Tamura had 'assembled' the weapon and used his concealed carry permit to purchase another firearm, a revolver, last month. 'This is part of a larger effort to trace Mr. Tamura's steps from Las Vegas to New York City,' she said. Read More Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Columnists MLB Tennis
Global News
29-07-2025
- Sport
- Global News
NYC shooting gunman left behind note appearing to blame NFL for brain injury
The lone shooter who killed four people and wounded a fifth at a New York City office building on Monday before taking his own life carried a note with him that appeared to blame the National Football League (NFL) for a brain injury, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Tuesday. The attacker, 27-year-old Shane Tamura, opened fire in a Manhattan building where the NFL has its headquarters, but wound up in a different part of the building after getting on the wrong elevator. 'He seemed to have blamed the NFL,' the mayor told WPIX-TV. 'The NFL headquarters was located in the building, and he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator bank.' Tamura, who investigators believe drove from his home in Las Vegas to New York City over three days, was carrying a note that said he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease brought on by head trauma, and blamed the condition for his mental illness, Adams said. Story continues below advertisement The note was found in his pocket after he shot himself dead. A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN that the note was written over three pages and called the letter a 'suicide note.' 'Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,' the shooter wrote, according to the source. 'You can't go against the NFL, they'll squash you.' View image in full screen This undated image provided by Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle shows Shane Tamura. Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle via AP Tamura played high school football in California nearly a decade ago, but he never played in the NFL. The late Terry Long was a former American football player who starred as an offensive lineman for eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. Long ended his life in June 2005, at the age of 45, by drinking a large amount of antifreeze. An autopsy later revealed that Long was suffering from CTE. Story continues below advertisement Two people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that Tamura apologized in his note and said his brain should be studied after he died. Tamura had mental health crisis holds in Nevada in 2022 and 2024, ABC in New York reported. The shooting happened along Park Avenue, one the nation's most recognized streets, and just blocks from Grand Central Terminal and Rockefeller Center. It's also 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 corporate greed, and Monday's attack could bring further attention to security in the business world. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy In addition to housing the NFL's headquarters, the skyscraper is home to the investment firm Blackstone, real estate company Rudin Management and other companies. View image in full screen Officers line up during the dignified transfer of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman. AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis What is CTE? A degenerative brain disease, CTE has been identified in athletes and military combat veterans who sustained concussions or repeated blows to the head. It can be diagnosed only posthumously through an examination of the brain. Story continues below advertisement The NFL long denied the link between football and CTE, but acknowledged the connection in 2016 testimony before Congress, and has so far paid more than $1.4 billion to retired players to settle concussion-related claims. Who were the victims? Didarul Islam, 36, had served as a police officer in New York City for three-and-a-half years. He was an immigrant from Bangladesh. View image in full screen This undated image provided by the New York Police Department shows Officer Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed at a Manhattan office building on Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. New York Police Department via AP Islam was married and had two young boys, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday. His wife is pregnant with their third child. Story continues below advertisement Early Tuesday, Islam's body was draped in the NYPD flag as it was moved from the hospital to an ambulance, with fellow officers standing at attention. View image in full screen Officers stand at attention during the dignified transfer of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by Shane Tamura. Angelina Katsanis / The Associated Press Blackstone confirmed one of its employees, Wesley LePatner, was among those killed. 'Words cannot express the devastation we feel,' the firm said in a statement. 'Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond.' View image in full screen This photo shows Wesley LePatner, an executive at Blackstone Inc., who was shot and killed by a gunman on Monday, July 28, 2025, at the company's headquarters in New York. Courtesy of Blackstone Inc. via AP A Yale graduate, LePatner was a real estate executive at Blackstone, according to the firm's website, and spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs before joining the firm in 2014. Story continues below advertisement The names of the other victims, along with a man who was seriously wounded and remains in critical condition, have not yet been released. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a memo to staff Tuesday that 'all of our employees are otherwise safe and accounted for,' following the shooting at the league's headquarters in Manhattan. Goodell praised the swift law enforcement response and honoured the NYPD officer who was killed in the attack. Employees in New York were instructed to work remotely Tuesday or take the day off, he said, and additional security will be in place. 'Every one of you is a valued member of the NFL family. We will get through this together,' Goodell said. View image in full screen A person leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial outside scene of Monday's deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. Yuki Iwamura / The Associated Press How the shooting unfolded Surveillance video showed Tamura exiting a double-parked BMW just before 6:30 p.m. carrying an M4 rifle, then marching across a public plaza into the building. He then started firing, Tisch said, killing Islam and then hitting a woman who tried to take cover as he sprayed the lobby with gunfire. Story continues below advertisement Tamura then made his way to the elevator bank and shot a guard at a security desk and shot another man in the lobby, the commissioner said. Tamura took the elevator to the 33rd floor offices of the company that owned the building, Rudin Management, and shot and killed one person on that floor. He then shot himself, Tisch said. After the shooting, officers found a rifle case, a revolver, magazines and ammunition in Tamura's car, Tisch said. They also found medication that belonged to Tamura, she said. 1:35 At least 3 shot, including NYC police officer at Manhattan office building — with files from Global News and The Associated Press
