Midtown Shooter Wanted to Target NFL; Note Claims Football Hurt His Brain

Security camera outside 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan shows Shane Tamura walking toward lobby with M4 assault rifle in right hand.

A 3-page note found on the mass shooter who used an assault rifle to kill an NYPD officer and three civilians July 28 indicated he was angry with the National Football League, claiming the NFL hid the dangers of the sport and alleging he suffered from CTE, the acronym for chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Shane Tamura, 27, played high school football in California and later moved to Las Vegas.

Midtown shooter, Shane Tamura, in high school (left) and in a recent photo (right).

According to Mayor Adams, police "have reason to believe that he was focused on the N.F.L."--which had office space in the skyscraper located at 345 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Just before 6:30 p.m. Monday, Tamura entered the building and started firing his assault rifle, killing NYPD Officer Didarul Islam first, before shooting four other civilians, killing three of them. The elevator bank Tamura entered did not have access to the NFL space, so he ended up on a different floor.

It was 6:41 p.m. Monday when I got the text from a longtime first responder.

"Reported active shooter in Manhattan. Multiple people shot, including a police officer."

A quick check of the address at 345 Park Avenue revealed the 44-story skyscraper is owned by the prominent real estate company, Rudin Management, which oversees 32 properties in New York City. The Blackstone financial firm also has space in the building.

A follow-up text from the source said the cop is "likely," meaning he was likely to die.

The message was tragically accurate, as we learned NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, 36--who was working in uniform on a private-duty security job--had been the first one killed in the lobby at 345 Park. He left behind a pregnant wife and two young children.

Police Officer Didarul Islam served the 47th Precinct in the Bronx. He was working off-duty in private security, wearing his NYPD uniform.

Two women and a male security guard were also fatally shot in the carnage. Frantic office workers fled the building, as SWAT teams and Emergency Service cops showed up at the scene. Some employees trapped in the building used couches to barricade doors to their office.

Office workers flee the scene of Midtown mass shooting (Eileen Lehpamer, PIX11).

The first 911 call about an active shooter had come at 6:28 p.m.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch gave a timeline of the early moments in the crisis, after the gunman was captured on surveillance leaving a double-parked, black BMW on Park Avenue and marching toward the lobby near East 52nd Street, an M4 assault rifle in his right hand.

"The building security camera shows the shooter enter the lobby, turn right, and immediately open fire on an NYPD officer," Tisch said. "He then shoots a woman who took cover behind a pillar and then proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire."

Tisch continued, "He makes his way to the elevator bank, where he shoots a security guard who was taking cover behind a security desk. One additional male was shot in the lobby, per his own statement at the hospital."

M4 assault rifle used by active shooter in midtown office building to kill multiple people before suspect turned weapon on himself.

Remarkably, a woman who exited the elevator wasn't targeted, as Tamura then got on and headed to the 34th floor, the office for Rudin Management.

Tisch noted Tamura was "firing rounds as he traveled. One person was struck and killed on that floor. He then proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest."

Fairly soon, social media sites used by law enforcement were posting a photo showing Shane Tamura's licensed, Concealed Firearms Permit issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on June 14, 2022 with an expiration date of June 2027.

Gun permit issued by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reveals Shane Tamura was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.

Police found other weapons in his BMW along with a medicine bottle. Tisch revealed Tamura had a history of mental health issues. He had started driving cross country on Saturday, July 26, arriving in the New York City-metropolitan area in the early hours of Monday, July 28.

A second source sent me the messages that were being circulated about the emergency in the early minutes of the response.

Just after 6:32 p.m. a text revealed possibly 30 people were hiding in a room on one floor at 345 Park Avenue.

At 6:33 p.m. requests were made for an additional "bus," meaning more ambulances were needed.

11 seconds later, another text said, "RUSH THE BUS."

Officer Didarul Islam, who became an NYPD cop 3 1/2 years ago after previously working in the traffic division, served the 47th Precinct in the Bronx. An immigrant from Bangladesh, Mayor Eric Adams spoke to his bereaved parents at Weill Cornell Medical Center, where Officer Islam was pronounced dead.

Didarul Islam was a one-time NYPD traffic officer, before he attended the Police Academy and became a uniformed cop.

"He was doing what he does best....he was protecting New Yorkers," the Mayor said.

Adams added, "He was a person of faith and a person who believed in God. He was a true blue New Yorker, not only in the uniform he wore but in his spirit and energy of loving this city. This was his dad's only son."

And once again, mental illness and an assault rifle seemingly came together, this time to an office building in New York's bustling midtown at the tail end of rush hour.