Shane Tamura, Las Vegas man once destined for rosy future in the NFL blamed the league in a suicide note on CTE, a debilitating head disease, which he blamed for his mental illness which he had a documented history of.
A lone gunman who shot five people, killing four, in Midtown Manhattan on Monday was a former competitive football player who expressed grievances with the National Football League, whose corporate offices are in the building that was attacked.
Shane Tamura, 27, was found with a suicide note on his body stating he had grievances with the NFL and its handling of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease linked to head trauma after the shooting rampage at 345 Park Avenue.
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In the letter he railed against the NFL and pleaded for his brain to be studied.
‘Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,’ Tamura wrote, according to CNN. ‘You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you.’
The shooter was referring to former Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Long, who committed suicide by drinking antifreeze in 2006 after suffering from CTE.
‘Study my brain please I’m sorry Tell Rick I’m sorry for everything,’ the note read.
CTE is commonly associated with football players, and studies show that repetitive hits to the head can result in the disease. The resulting brain damage is similar to that seen in Alzheimer’s disease. CTE can lead to dementia and eventually death.
Park Ave shooter had mental health history
Two officials familiar with the matter told NBC News that in the note found at the shooting scene, the suspect wonders about CTE as being a possible cause of his mental illness.
Tamura had been a star football player in high school, obsessed with the game and once on a path to gaining birth to a career in the NFL.
During his senior year, Tamura earned six Player of the Game awards and registered 126 carries for 616 rushing yards and five touchdowns in nine appearances.
But it wasn’t to be.
In recent years, Tamura had a ‘documented mental health history,’ NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch revealed during a Monday night news conference.
Tamura nevertheless managed to earn a private investigator’s license and was able to obtain a concealed carry permit to carry firearms, both legally granted through the Las Vegas Sheriff’s Department.
NYC shooter had once been destined for NFL greatness
He had the license on him when he entered 345 Park Ave, brandishing an M4 rifle with a silencer and opening fire in the lobby just on 6.30 p.m, Monday early evening.
After gunning down NYPD Officer Didaral Islam, a father of two working privately at the time, along with an unidentified security officer also working at the lobby, Tamura took the elevator to the 33rd floor, but not before allowing a woman to alight, without hurting her.
The National Football League headquarters are on the fifth floor of the building, with Tamura instead electing to travel to the 33rd floor, where the real estate management firm of Rudin Management was located. It was there upon alighting he shot a female worker dead before then mortally shooting himself in the chest.
Nevertheless, CNN reported an employee of the NFL being ‘seriously injured’ during the attack.
Police in New York City and in Nevada are continuing to comb Tamura’s social media presence and are going through his Las Vegas home to collect evidence pointing to a motive.
They have already found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition and magazines, as well as a backpack and medication prescribed to him inside his vehicle.
A childhood friend of Tamura remembered the gunman as being a good athlete and a nice guy. The friend, who had not talked with the shooter since he was a young teenager, did not think it was something Tamura was capable of. A former high school friend Caleb Clarke also expressed his shock at the shooting, saying Tamura had never been ‘problematic’ as a student.
Clarke added that it seemed as if Tamura was destined for greatness as an athlete.
‘I feel like it was definitely on the table for him,’ Clarke said. ‘I don’t think he walked around to be like, ‘Oh, I’ll have NFL games one day.’ I think it was more of everybody just telling him how great he was … how special he was.’
Officials have not released any further information about the others killed and injured in the massacre on Monday.
