Investigators are combing through evidence in the wake of New York City’s deadliest mass shooting since 2000, trying to figure out more about the gunman who opened fire in Midtown, fatally shooting four people – including a police officer – and injuring one before killing himself.
The shooting Monday at 345 Park Avenue, a glossy skyscraper near 52nd Street and blocks from busy tourist sites like Rockefeller Center and the Museum of Modern Art, erupted as workers were filing out of offices during the busy evening commute. The building houses global companies, including investment firm Blackstone and the National Football League, with which the gunman – a competitive football player in his youth – had grievances, a law enforcement source said.
It is among at least 254 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Here’s what we know:
The gunman, Shane Devon Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas, drove across the country in the days before the attack and got to New York City Monday afternoon, police said.
Tamura had a “documented mental health history,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference Monday night.
He also had a suicide note in his pocket alleging he suffered from CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease linked to head trauma, a source with knowledge of the investigation said. Tamura asked that his brain be studied and wrote: “You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you,” the source said, adding the short note was scribbled over three pages investigators found after the shooting.
CTE is commonly associated with football players, and studies have shown repetitive hits to the head can result in the disease. Tamura had once played football competitively, sources told CNN.
The NFL’s offices are on the fifth floor of the Park Avenue building.
Police are investigating Tamura’s motives, they said, and an FBI initial search of internal systems had not turned up information about gunman, the agency said.
Former friends and classmates expressed shock at the news of the shooting.
“When I knew him, he was a great teammate. He was a great guy in general. He didn’t cause any problems, actually at all, in the locker room or on the field. He was just a guy that really enjoyed the sport, not problematic at all,” said a former high school friend, according to CNN affiliate KABC.
Another childhood friend, who asked not to be identified, remembered Tamura as being a nice guy and a good athlete.
Neither had spoken to Tamura in many years.
Shortly before 6:30 p.m., surveillance cameras captured Tamura leaving his car near the Park Avenue building and entering with an M4 assault-style rifle in hand, Tisch said. He entered the lobby and began “spraying it with gunfire,” she continued, hitting a police officer, a security guard and another man and woman.
People nearby heard windows shatter and a loud noise, the Associated Press reported.
“It felt like it was a quick two shots and then it was rapid fire,” Nekeisha Lewis, who was getting dinner with friends, told the AP. She saw a man run from the building saying, “Help, help. I’m shot.”
After opening fire in the lobby, the gunman went to the elevator, where a woman ran out and passed by unharmed, Tisch said.
He then took the elevator to the 33rd floor, where the woman also had been heading, according to a law enforcement official. It’s the floor where the building’s owner, real estate company Rudin Management, has its offices.
Tamura then opened fire again, killing one person before shooting himself in the chest and dying of the wound, Tisch said.
Killed in the attack was NYPD officer Didarul Islam, a 36-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh who had worked in the police force for 3 1/2 years. He had two young sons, and his wife is pregnant with their third child, police said.
Islam had been off-duty at the time but was working security in the building when Tamura stormed the lobby and shot him. “Everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God and believed in living out the life of a godly person,” said Mayor Eric Adams, hailing Islam as a hero.
Also slain was Blackstone employee Wesley LePatner, the company confirmed Tuesday. She “embodied the best of Blackstone” and leaves behind a husband and children, the firm said in a statement.
“She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond,” Blackstone said.
A man and a woman who were shot were taken to Bellevue Hospital and died, while another woman was found dead on the 33rd floor, police said. Police were withholding their names until families could be notified, said the police commissioner.
One of the five people shot, an NFL employee, was “seriously injured” – and in stable condition at a hospital overnight into Tuesday – a staff memo from NFL Commissioner Roger stated.
