Mass shooting inside New York High-Rise

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A shooting was reported this evening at a high-rise midtown Manhattan building, two senior law enforcement officials said.

A police officer and four civillians were killed inside 345 Park Ave. in New York City, sources said.

Police said the shooting was carried out by a lone gunman, whom sources identified as Shane Devon Tamura, 27, from Las Vegas. Four law enforcement officials told NBC News that Tamura is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A motive for the shooting has not been determined.

The building at that address houses several tenants, including Blackstone and KPMG.

Shooter drove across the country, had mental health issues, NYPD commissioner says
The shooter drove across the country in recent days, arriving in New York City today, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch at a news conference tonight.

Investigators tracked Shane Tamura's BMW across the country starting Saturday, with points crossed in Nebraska, Iowa and New Jersey, she said, until it arrived in New York today. He double-parked near the high-rise that was the location of today's violence and walked in, she said.

In the car. investigators found prescription medicine along with a rifle case, magazines with ammunition and a loaded revolver, she said.

Tamura has a "documented" history of mental health issues, Tisch said. "Our partners in Las Vegas made us aware of a mental health history," she said

Slain NYPD officer emigrated from Bangladesh, wife is pregnant, mayor says
The NYPD officer killed in today’s shooting was identified as Didarul Islam, who emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh and whose wife is pregnant, officials said.

Islam was 36 years old and had been with the NYPD for 3½ years, Mayor Eric Adams said. He was assigned to the 47th Precinct in the Bronx.

“He was doing what he does best and all members of the police department carry out,” Adams said. “He was saving lives. He was protecting New Yorkers.”

Islam was married and had two young boys, and his wife is pregnant with a third child, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

"He put himself in harm's way. He made the ultimate sacrifice — shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city," Tisch said, calling him a hero.

Gunman had M4 rifle, immediately shot police officer in lobby, police commissioner says
Security video shows the gunman in tonight's shooting got out of a double-parked car with an M4 rifle and entered the building’s lobby, where he “immediately open fire” on an NYPD officer, who was killed, the police commissioner said.

“He then shoots a woman who took cover behind a pillar and proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

The gunman shot a security guard at the elevator bank as the guard was taking cover behind a security desk, Tisch said.

The shooter called the elevator to the lobby, a woman got out and the gunman allowed her to exit unharmed, Tisch said.

The shooter went up to the 33rd floor and “begins to walk the floor, firing rounds as he traveled,” Tisch said. One person was shot and killed on that floor, she said.

“He then proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest,” she said

The three-page note found in the wallet of the Park Avenue shooting suspect included several references to CTE, according to a senior official familiar with the investigation.

“CTE study my brain please. I’m sorry,” one quote said.

Another line referred to former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Terry Long, who died in 2005. The note also warned against going against the NFL, claiming it will "squash you."

Long is a former Steelers lineman who died by suicide by drinking antifreeze, according to a revised death certificate in 2006, The Associated Press reported. Football-related brain injuries were listed as a contributing factor to his death.

Another line in the note claimed the NFL "concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us."

Gunman appeared to target NFL but took wrong elevator, mayor say
The gunman appeared to target the NFL offices but took the wrong elevator bank, Mayor Eric Adams said in a TV interview today.

The gunman had a note that “stated he had CTE,” or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition that can affect football players who have had concussions, Adams said.

“He seemed to have blamed the NFL. The NFL headquarters was located in the building. And he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator banks,” Adams said in an interview with WPIX-TV.

“As you know, in many of our corporate buildings, based on the floors you want to get to, you have to go to certain elevator banks,” Adams said.

“And 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,” Adams said.

Gunman appeared to target NFL but took wrong elevator, mayor says , continued
Adams also made similar comments on “CBS Mornings.”

The gunman took the elevator to the 33rd floor, police have said. The NFL's registered address at the building is on the fifth floor.

The suspect played football in high school but never beyond that.

Security feature at 345 Park Ave. could have stopped elevator, mayor says
The Rudin Management-owned building that was the scene of a gunman’s attack yesterday had security features that could have locked the elevators — but the security guard who could have activated it was killed, Mayor Eric Adams said.

“Our partners, such as the building 345 Park Avenue, Rudin Management, they implemented so many safeguards, and even to the point that they could have stopped the elevator from moving in any direction or bringing it back to the floor,” Adams said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”

“But the security guard that was in charge of that operation was killed at the desk. As he attempted to flee, the suspect — he was killed at the desk, and that took away that operation,” the mayor said.

Adams said there were “safe rooms” in the building, including bathrooms with bulletproof doors, and several people are believed to have locked themselves in them during the shooting.

Note discovered at Tamura's Las Vegas home
Investigators searching Tamura's Las Vegas home have found a second note, similar in tone to the one discovered in New York City, according to two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter.

Officials have said the note found on Tamura mentioned CTE, a brain condition caused by repeated injuries to the head.

The man suspected of shooting dead four people in midtown Manhattan last month had years earlier threatened to kill himself as he dealt with depression and concussion symptoms, according to a phone call his mother made to police.

On the afternoon of Sept. 12, 2022, Shane Tamura was inside a Las Vegas motel room suffering from a mental health crisis and threatening suicide, his mother told a 911 dispatcher. “He’s under doctor’s care for depression, concussion — like sports concussions — chronic migraine and insomnia,” she said.

The call was one of several 911 calls, documents and body camera videos released Tuesday by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department regarding Tamura, who officials have said had a history of mental health issues and encounters with law enforcement.

Authorities said Tamura then fatally shot himself in the torso.

Two officials familiar with the case said the former high school football player left a note at the scene repeatedly mentioning “CTE” — thought to mean chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain condition caused by injuries to the head.

In the September 2022 call, Tamura’s mother said her son had a concealed carry permit for a handgun, which he kept in a backpack. Tamura had been inside the motel room and begun crying and slamming things, saying his mother’s being there was making the situation worse, she said.

She said she stepped out and was calling from inside her silver Toyota Camry, out of sight of her son. “He didn’t say he made a plan, he just said he just can’t take it anymore,” the mother told the dispatcher.

A Las Vegas metro police officer that day filed an emergency request for Tamura to be admitted to a mental health facility or hospital, according to a copy of the application.

Tamura was born in Las Vegas and his family eventually ended up in California, where he enrolled in at least two Los Angeles-area high schools.

He started out at Golden Valley High School, in the suburb of Santa Clarita, where he played running back for the football team. A classmate told NBC News that in his junior year, Tamura wasn’t going to be eligible to play due to poor grades. His grades improved, but Tamura didn’t like that he wasn’t going to be the starting running back when he returned, the classmate said.

Tamura then transferred to Granada Hills Charter, where he continued impressing on the football field. It’s unclear if he ever graduated, and he does not appear to have continued playing football after high school.

At some point after high school, Tamura returned to Las Vegas, where he had various documented encounters with police, including for threatening suicide.

Besides the September 2022 call, police were called over Tamura’s threatening suicide at least once more.

In August 2024, someone called 911 about their son, according to a log of the call and police bodycam footage. The caller noted that Tamura previously had a concealed carry permit for a gun, which had since expired, and that he suffered from bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression.

n the video, a police officer arrives to a Las Vegas apartment complex, where paramedics are already in a room with a shirtless Tamura, seemingly checking his vital signs as he sits calmly on a couch.

“He called his mom, made some statements about not wanting to be here anymore, this is it for him,” a paramedic tells the officer. “He’s been calm and cooperative with us, but he did tell us he had a handgun in his bag. But he doesn’t want to go to the hospital.”

The interaction lasts a few minutes and remains calm, with Tamura at one point indicating to the officer where the gun is. After he puts on a shirt and some sandals and grabs a few items, Tamura, the officer and the paramedics step outside and head downstairs, where Tamura gets onto a waiting stretcher and is wheeled out of the apartment complex.

Another emergency application for Tamura to be admitted to a mental health facility or hospital was made that day, a copy of the request shows.

In May of that year, Tamura was also pulled over for driving without a rear license plate, body camera video of the traffic stop shows. He appeared cooperative and was eventually cited for operating an unregistered vehicle and driving without a valid license, according to a copy of the citation, which shows he was released after being cited.

The year prior, though, Tamura had had a more volatile interaction with police at a Las Vegas casino.

According to an arrest report, Tamura had been gambling when security personnel asked him to show his identification, which he refused to do. When asked to leave, he went to collect his winnings but also refused to show identification to claim what he said he was owed — around $5,000 — according to the report.

That's when security staff called 911. Tamura called 911 as well, according to audio of the call, saying, "They stole my money." Body camera video shows police and casino staff speaking with Tamura in a room, with one officer growing irate after Tamura repeatedly refused to give his name.

They eventually handcuffed him, took him outside and repeatedly told him to leave, according to the video. When he failed to do so, they handcuffed him again and arrested him, taking him to the Clark County Detention Center.

Police searched Tamura's Las Vegas apartment the next day and found a notebook with a goodbye note, prescription pill bottles, an empty gun case, 9 mm rounds, a bipod for a rifle and a rifle cartridge, according to a search warrant. Police said he used a rifle in the killings.

In a note left behind at the scene of the shooting, Tamura accused the NFL of knowingly concealing the dangers to football players’ brains and asked that his brain be studied for CTE.

A spokesperson for the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner told NBC News it would examine his brain as part of the autopsy process, which is expected to take multiple weeks.

The gunman who suspected he had CTE when he killed four people and himself in a Manhattan office building in July did in fact have the degenerative brain disease, a medical examiner said Friday.

Shane Devon Tamura, 27, who played high school football, had "unambiguous diagnostic evidence" of low-stage CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the New York City medical examiner said.

The brain disease is caused by repeated head injuries and is most commonly associated in the U.S. with NFL players. But researchers say Tamura is far from the first young athlete to develop CTE despite not having played sports after high school or college.

“We know that we have a lot of cases like this. We know high school football players can get CTE,” said Chris Nowinski, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Concussion Legacy Foundation.

Nowinski said Tamura's findings should be a wake-up call to football coaches and other leaders in the sports world and trigger stricter guidelines for America’s most popular sport.

"We don't need any more research to convince high school coaches to change the rules of the game," he said. "There needs to be a will to do it."

The medical examiner conducted a brain examination as part of Tamura’s autopsy after authorities say the attacker left a note at the scene of the July 28 shooting, expressing anger that his mental troubles may have been linked to playing football and requesting his brain be studied for CTE.