Shane Tamura accidentally entered wrong elevator bank after shooting spree in Manhattan office building lobby
A gunman who killed four people in a New York office block was trying to target the NFL headquarters but took the wrong lift, the city’s mayor has said.
Eric Adams said it’s believed Shane Tamura was trying to get to the NFL (National Football League) offices after shooting several people in the lobby of 345 Park Avenue on Monday evening.
The 27-year-old from Las Vegas accidentally entered the wrong set of lifts, the mayor said.
“We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building,” Mr Adams told MSNBC.
Note Found Expressing CTE Concerns
NBC News said a note was found in which the suspect expressed anger at his mental illness potentially being linked to him having played American football.
The three-page note found in Tamura’s pocket alleged he suffered from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative brain disease linked to concussion and repeated head impacts common in American football.
“Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” the shooter wrote, according to sources. Terry Long was a former Pittsburgh Steelers player who died by suicide after drinking antifreeze in 2005.
The note also said: “You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you” and asked “Study my brain please I’m sorry.”
Tamura played high school football but never played in the NFL.
Police Officer Among Victims
A police officer, Didarul Islam, was among those killed on Monday. The 36-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh was married with two children and his wife was pregnant. He had been working off-duty security in the building when he was shot.
He was doing the job that we asked him to do,” said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who confirmed the gunman had a “documented mental health history.
The shooting happened at 345 Park Avenue – a skyscraper in Manhattan that also houses firms including investment company Blackstone and KPMG.
Blackstone Executive Killed
Blackstone said on Tuesday “words cannot express the devastation we feel” as it confirmed senior managing director Wesley LePatner had died in the shooting.
“She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone,” said a statement.
The 43-year-old was Global Head of Core+ Real Estate and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), a £42 billion ($55 billion) fund. She was married with children.
Wrong Elevator Bank
“From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,” Mayor Adams told CBS Mornings. “Instead, it took him to Rudin Management, and that is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a memo to staff that one of its employees was stable in hospital after being seriously injured in the attack.
Timeline of Attack
CCTV captured Tamura, 27, walking towards the building carrying a rifle after getting out of a black BMW just before 6.30pm.
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch said he entered the lobby, turned right and opened fire on the police officer.
“He then shoots a woman who took cover behind a pillar and proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire,” she told reporters on Monday.
“He makes his way to the elevator bank where he shoots a security guard who was taking cover behind a security desk.”
Ms Tisch said Tamura then called for a lift which opened in the lobby.
“A female exits that elevator and he allows her to walk past him unharmed,” she said.
“He goes up to the 33rd floor… and begins to walk the floor firing rounds as he travelled. One person was struck and killed on that floor,” she continued.
The gunman then fatally shot himself in the chest.
Cross-Country Journey
Police said Tamura had driven across the country from Nevada in recent days. His vehicle was tracked through Colorado on Saturday, then Nebraska and Iowa on Sunday.
The car was spotted in Columbia, New Jersey, at 4.24pm on Monday – just two hours before the shooting – and entered New York City shortly after.
Officers found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition, magazines, a backpack and prescribed medication in his BMW. The vehicle was checked for explosives but none were found.
Sources told CNN that Tamura had two mental health crisis holds in his background in Nevada, one in 2022 and another in 2024. These typically allow a person to be detained for up to 72 hours if they are thought to be a danger to themselves or others.
Former Teammates Shocked
Former high school teammates expressed shock at news of the shooting. Tamura had played as a running back at Granada Hills Charter School in Los Angeles.
“You never would have thought violence was something you’d associate with him,” former classmate Caleb Clarke said. “Everything he said was a joke.”
The shooting was New York City’s deadliest mass shooting since 2000. New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered flags on all state government buildings to be flown at half-staff in honour of the victims.
“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, and we must confront this violence head on,” she said.
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