The Midtown Manhattan office shooter left behind a three-page handwritten note that criticized the NFL and said, “study my brain please” for the degenerative brain disease CTE, Business Insider has learned.
Investigators found the note inside the wallet of 27-year-old shooter Shane Tamura, who police said opened fire inside of 345 Park Avenue Monday evening, killing four people, including an NYPD officer and a Blackstone executive, before he turned the gun on himself. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, law enforcement said.
The first page of Tamura’s note made references to CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), asked “study my brain please,” and said, “I’m sorry,” said a law enforcement source who provided excerpts of the missive.
An excerpt from the second page of Tamura’s note mentioned late NFL player Terry Long, who died by suicide in 2005 by drinking antifreeze. Long, a former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman, had been diagnosed with CTE after he died.
CTE is caused by repeated head trauma and is often associated with football.
“Football gave me CTE and it cause me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” Tamura’s note read. It added, “You can’t go against the NFL.”
“They’ll squash you,” another part of the second page of the note said.
The note’s third page read in part, “Please study brain for CTE.”
“The league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us,” the third page also read, referring to the NFL.
Following Monday’s shooting, investigators found Tamura’s body and the note on the 33rd floor of the Park Avenue skyscraper. The building houses high-powered businesses, including the headquarters of Blackstone and the NFL.
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Police have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in multiple interviews on Tuesday that Tamura was apparently trying to target the NFL in the attack, but mistakenly took the wrong elevator bank.
“It appears as though he was blaming the NFL for his CTE matter,” Adams said of Tamura on the local news channel PIX11.
Adams said that after the gunman opened fire in the building’s lobby, he “went on the wrong elevator bank, which took him to Rudin Management, and that is where he carried out an additional part of his horrific shootings.”
“We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building,” Adams added in a separate interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
In a memo to staff, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said an NFL employee was seriously injured in the shooting and was hospitalized in stable condition.
Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner and NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was working a paid security detail at the building, were among those killed in the attack.
If you or someone you know is experiencing depression or has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, get help. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations. Help is also available through the Crisis Text Line — just text “HOME” to 741741. The International Association for Suicide Prevention offers resources for those outside the US.
