Manhattan Shooter Carried Note With Grievance Against NFL, May Have Been Targeting League Office

The 27-year-old man who killed four people at a Manhattan office building on Monday before killing himself appears to have been targeting the NFL offices that are located in the building, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday morning.

"It appears as though he was going after the employees at the NFL, the building, 345 houses the NFL's company," Adams said during an appearance on FOX 5 New York's Good Day New York on Tuesday.

Adams also confirmed the notion a note authorities are calling a suicide note on shooter Shane Devon Tamura's body suggested he had grievances against the NFL linked to his own CTE.

New York Police Department officers are pictured on the scene of an active shooter in Midtown Manhattan, Monday, June 28, 2025, in New York City. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Shane Devon Tamura Note Claims CTE

In it, Tamura claimed to suffer from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head and concussions. Tamura asked that his brain be studied, according to the reports.

"He alluded to having CTE from playing in the NFL," Adams said. "He never played in the NFL. And he alluded to the CTE being the reason for his illness."

But this goes further because the note seemed to include a direct grievance against the NFL:

"You can't go against the NFL, they'll squash you," the note read, according to numerous reports.

Tamura never played in the NFL, although there is evidence he played high school football.

"We're still going through this the suicide note to zero in on the exact reason, but at this time it appears as though something that is attached to his belief he experienced CTE from playing in NFL," Adams said. 

The NFL was sued by over 4,500 former players and others claiming to have suffered head injuries while playing in the league. The settlement payout on that suit is at $765 million. The league has, since that settlement, taken steps to adjust its play rules and improve equipment to limit head injuries in the game.

(Front L-R) NYPD Chief of Department John M. Chell, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and New York City Mayor Eric Adams and City officials hold a press conference at the David H. Koch Center following a shooting in Midtown in which four people including a police officer were killed, on July 28, 2025 in New York City. Five people including a police officer and a suspected gunman were dead following a shooting July 28, 2025 at a skyscraper in central Manhattan, US media reported. The incident began around 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) when reports of gunfire prompted hundreds of police to a busy office district on the storied Park Avenue, an area popular with tourists (Photo by John Lamparski / AFP) (Photo by JOHN LAMPARSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Shooter Missed The NFL Floors

Bloomberg, citing senior law enforcement officers, said the gunman was targeting the NFL office when he entered 345 Park Avenue, where the league offices are on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors. 

But after shooting and killing multiple people in the lobby of the building, Tamura picked the wrong elevator bank which took him instead to the 33rd floor where he killed one woman and himself.  

"There are two different elevator banks, and as anyone has said, many of our corporate buildings, some banks don't go to every floor," Adams said. "He appeared to have gone to the wrong bank, and he ended up on the floor of Rudin Management."

It is unclear how the police could have known Tamura's true intentions in picking a floor, or that he made a mistake in choosing an elevator.

What is known is that four people are dead, including one New York City police officer.

New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters during a news conference Monday night that the Las Vegas police shared with the NYPD information that Tamura had a documented mental health history. 

The NFL confirmed to OutKick early Tuesday that one NFL employee was "seriously injured" in the shooting spree.

NFL Employees Staying Home Tuesday

Commissioner Roger Goodell released a message to all NFL employees, obtained by OutKick, outlining that the NFL employee is hospitalized but in stable condition.

The memo also told NFL employees to stay home and work remote on Tuesday rather than coming in to the office building that is for all intents still a crime scene.

Goodell gave NFL employees in New York the option of taking the day off, saying that decision was understandable.