Key Takeaways
- Shane Tamura, who killed four people at the NFL headquarters in NYC before committing suicide, was confirmed to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
- A suicide note found on Tamura's body expressed his wish for his brain to be tested for CTE and attributed his mental health struggles to his football career.
- The medical examiner confirmed the presence of low-stage CTE in Tamura's brain, a condition linked to repeated head trauma.
- Tamura mistakenly went to the wrong elevator bank in the building, which led him to a different location than intended.
- The incident was described by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as “an attack on humanity.”
The gunman who killed four people and then himself at the NFL headquarters on Park Avenue in New York City, has been confirmed to have had CTE.
As reported by NBC New York, 27-year-old Shane Tamura had a suicide note on his body after he killed himself from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest following the shooting at the NFL headquarters building in July. In the note, he said that he wanted his brain tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and blamed his struggles with mental illness on playing football.
The medical examiner's office has since performed an autopsy and determined that there's "unambiguous diagnostic evidence of CTE" in his brain. "The findings correspond with the classification of low-stage CTE, according to current consensus criteria," reads the statement from the medical examiner's office. "CTE may be found in the brains of decedents with a history of repeated exposure to head trauma. The science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study."
On July 28, Shane Tamura fatally shot four people at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A note found on his body referenced his time playing football and his claim of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
“He stated he had CTE, a brain injury known for those who played a contact sport of some nature," New York City Mayor Eric Adams told PIX11. "He seemed to have blamed the NFL.
“NFL headquarters was located in the building and he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator bank,” Adams continued. “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, and he went on the wrong elevator bank which took him to Rudin Management.”
In a memo to NFL employees, Commissioner Roger Goodell called the shooting “an attack on humanity.”
