A New York police investigator exits her vehicle at the scene outside a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The ambulance carrying the body of Didarul Islam exits NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital during the dignified transfer of the slain officer, who was shot and killed by a gunman Monday evening, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police officer stands watch on 52nd Street outside a Manhattan office building where at least two people were shot, including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police officer talks with a woman as she exits a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The residence of Shane Tamura, identified as the gunman in the fatal shooting at a Manhattan office building in New York City and who was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound is seen on Monday, July 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Ty O'Neil)
NYPD officers bring out the body of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
People embrace during the dignified transfer of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital to the medical examiner's office, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Members of the NYPD Crime Unit examine a door with bullet holes at the scene of the previous day's deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
This image from surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press shows Shane Tamura outside a Manhattan office building on Monday, July 28, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo)
A New York police investigator exits her vehicle at the scene outside a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
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The ambulance carrying the body of Didarul Islam exits NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital during the dignified transfer of the slain officer, who was shot and killed by a gunman Monday evening, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
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A New York police officer stands watch on 52nd Street outside a Manhattan office building where at least two people were shot, including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A New York police officer talks with a woman as she exits a Manhattan office building where two people were shot including a police officer, Monday, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
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The residence of Shane Tamura, identified as the gunman in the fatal shooting at a Manhattan office building in New York City and who was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound is seen on Monday, July 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Ty O'Neil)
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NYPD officers bring out the body of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
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People embrace during the dignified transfer of Didarul Islam, who was shot and killed by a gunman earlier this evening, out of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital to the medical examiner's office, early Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
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Members of the NYPD Crime Unit examine a door with bullet holes at the scene of the previous day's deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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This image from surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press shows Shane Tamura outside a Manhattan office building on Monday, July 28, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo)
This undated image provided by Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle shows Shane Tamura. (Las Vegas Dept. of Motor Vehicle via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — A gunman who killed four people at a Manhattan office building before killing himself claimed in a note to have a brain disease linked to contact sports and was trying to target the ºÃÉ«tv Football League's headquarters but took the wrong elevator, officials said Tuesday.
Investigators believe Shane Tamura, a Las Vegas casino worker, was trying to get up to the NFL offices in the skyscraper's lobby on Monday but entered the wrong elevator bank, Mayor Eric Adams said in interviews.
, including an off-duty New York City police officer, Didarul Islam.
The gunman blamed the NFL
Tamura, who played high school football in California nearly two decades ago but never in the NFL, had a history of mental illness, police said. In a three-page handwritten note found in his wallet, he claimed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy and accused the NFL of concealing the dangers to players’ brains for profit. The has been linked to concussions and other repeated head trauma common in contact sports such as football, but it can only be diagnosed after someone has died.
In the note, Tamura repeatedly said he was sorry and asked that his brain be studied for CTE, according to the police department. It also referenced former NFL player Terry Long, who was diagnosed with CTE, and the manner in which Long killed himself in 2005.
The NFL long denied the link between football and CTE, but it acknowledged the connection in 2016 testimony before Congress and has paid more than $1.4 billion to retired players to settle concussion-related claims.
called the shooting “an unspeakable act of violence in our building,†saying he was deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers who responded and the officer who gave his life to protect others.
Goodell said in a memo to staff that a league employee was seriously injured in the attack and was hospitalized in stable condition.
The shooting happened along Park Avenue, one the nation’s most recognized streets, and just blocks from Grand Central Terminal and Rockefeller Center. It's also less than a 15-minute walk from where was shot and killed last December by a man who over corporate greed.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he knows that area of Manhattan well. “My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD Officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice,†Trump posted on social media.
Video showed the gunman stroll into the building
Investigators found that Tamura, who worked security at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, drove across the country the past few days and into New York City just before the shooting, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Surveillance video showed the gunman getting out of a BMW early Monday evening and strolling across a plaza in a button-down shirt and jacket with a rifle at his side before he entered , which also has offices for the investment firm Blackstone and other companies. It was closed Tuesday except to investigators.
Once inside, he sprayed the lobby with gunfire, killing Islam, who was off-police duty and working a corporate security detail, and hitting a woman who tried to take cover, Tisch said. He then made his way to the elevator bank, shooting a guard at a security desk and another man in the lobby, she said.
“He appeared to have first walked past the officer and then he turned to his right, and saw him and discharged several rounds,†Adams said in a TV interview.
Tamura took an elevator to the 33rd-floor offices of the company that owns the building, Rudin Management, and shot and killed one person there before fatally shooting himself, the commissioner said.
Blackstone confirmed that one of its employees, real estate executive Wesley LePatner, was among those killed. Security officer Aland Etienne also died, according to a local labor union.
The off-duty officer was from Bangladesh
Islam, 36, had served as a police officer in New York City for three-and-a-half years and was an immigrant from Bangladesh, Tisch said at a news conference.
His body was draped in the New York Police Department flag as it was moved from the hospital to an ambulance, with fellow officers standing at attention.
“He was doing the job that we asked him to do. He put himself in harm’s way. He made the ultimate sacrifice,†Tisch said. “He died as he lived: a hero.â€
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press reporters Mike Balsamo, Philip Marcelo and Julie Walker in New York; Rob Maaddi and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia, Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey; and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.