A gunman who fatally shot four people at a New York City skyscraper on Monday was targeting the administrative offices of the National Football League (NFL), multiple sources confirmed on Tuesday.
Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas drove a BMW sedan across multiple states during a two-day trip that ended near the entrance of 345 Park Avenue, a multi-story building that houses the NFL, several financial firms and the office of Rudin Management.
Around 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time, Tamura was captured on surveillance video walking through the promenade of 345 Park Avenue while openly carrying an assault rifle. According to eyewitness reports and accounts relayed by law enforcement officials, Tamura opened fire inside the lobby of the building, killing off-duty police officer Didarul Islam, 36, who was working a paid security detail at the time.
Tamura also killed two other people inside the lobby and wounded several others before boarding an elevator with the intent of visiting the NFL’s administrative offices. But he chose the wrong elevator bank, settling instead on an express elevator that skips floors in the first half of the building, according to a police source.
The gunman ultimately stopped at the 33rd floor, opening fire within the office of Rudin Management, killing one person before turning the gun on himself.
Police recovered a suicide note on Tamura’s body. In it, he complained about likely having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a traumatic injury to the brain, and accused the NFL of previously working to cover up CTE injuries within its players. Tamura thanked several doctors, as well as a 2013 “Frontline” documentary that aired on PBS and which examined the issue of CTE within the league.
Writing on social media, this reporter was the first to report Tamura was the suspect in the New York City shooting spree and the first to report that police were investigating the possibility that the NFL was targeted.
While Tamura never made it to the NFL’s offices, at least one NFL employee was wounded in the shooting, according to a memo written by the league’s commissioner Roger Goddell and circulated to employees late Monday evening.
“One of our employees was seriously injured in this attack. He is currently in the hospital and in stable condition,” the memo said, according to ESPN.
The injured NFL employee was not named. The league urged employees in New York City to work from home on Tuesday, and said security would be elevated at its offices throughout the week.
The NFL maintains a separate broadcast facility in Lower Manhattan, where some of its programming is produced at Four World Trade Center. Most of its shows, including its flagship “Good Morning Football” program, relocated to its Los Angeles studios last year.
