Shooter Who Targeted NFL Office In New York Had CTE, Medical Examiner Says

Shane Tamura, the man who killed four victims before killing himself in the midtown Manhattan office building occupied in part by the NFL, suffered from CTE, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Friday in a statement.

CTE is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. It is a progressive and degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts, such as concussions or even sub-concussive blows.

 It can cause mood swings that can rise to the level of violent episodes and is often linked to football because the game involves repeated blows to the head.

People enter 345 Park Avenue as the building partially reopens following last week's deadly shootings in Midtown Manhattan, in New York on August 4, 2025. A man who killed four people, then committed suicide in a New York skyscraper, may have been targeting the NFL offices there because he blamed the American football league for brain injuries he said he suffered, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday. The revelation that the killer, identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, carried a note referring to the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), offered the first possible motive for the shootings late Monday that brought central Manhattan to a standstill. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

Finding: Tamura Had Low-Stage CTE

The shooter left a three-page note found in his pockets by police at the scene of his crime on July 28. He claimed he suffered from traumatic brain injury.

"Following a thorough assessment and extensive analysis by our neuropathology experts, OCME has found unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, in the brain tissue of the decedent," the statement from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reads.

"The findings correspond with the classification of low-stage CTE, according to current consensus criteria.  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."

The medical examiner's office previously said Tamura died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The statement does not say if CTE played a role in either Tamura's crime or suicide but merely that Tamura had the disease.

"We’re unable – as I don’t think science would be able to at all at this point – to say what role CTE played in that particular incident, causing that incident," the medical examiner said. "We’re not saying that CTE is the cause of what happened at the Park Avenue shooting."

Tamura killed four people. One NFL employee was seriously injured.

And no amount of medical diagnosis can excuse that.

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - JULY 28: Law enforcement officers including the FBI work at the scene where five people were shot with four people including NYPD police officer Didarul Islam killed in a mass shooting attack at 345 Park Avenue by suspect Shane Tamura armed with an assault rifle in New York City, United States on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Medical Diagnosis Not An Excuse

The NFL agrees, in a statement to OutKick:

"We continue to grieve the senseless loss of lives, and our hearts remain with the victims’ families and our dedicated employees.

"There is no justification for the horrific acts that took place. As the medical examiner notes ‘the science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study.'"

Tamura murdered Aland Etienne, a security guard for the building; Wesley LePatner, an executive at Blackstone who was a wife and mom; Didarul Islam, a police officer who was a father of two; and Julia Hyman, an employee at Rudin Management. 

Hyman was the only victim who was not killed in the lobby of the building. 

All the victims were shot in less than 30 seconds, according to police. Tamura fired 47 rounds, which has led police to say he reloaded once.

The shooting was said to be targeting the NFL offices on floors five through eight. Tamura took an elevator up from the lobby but never stopped at any floor occupied by the NFL.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has limited his statements on the matter.

The NFL has tightened security at its offices.