A man who entered a skyscraper office block carrying an assault-style rifle and proceeded to shoot dead four innocent people, had been seeking out employees of the National Football League (NFL) whose headquarters are located in the building.

However, twenty-seven-year-old Shane Tamura from Las Vegas who had a “documented mental health history” arrived on the wrong floor when exiting an elevator, yet still carried out his deadly assault.

He turned his weapon on himself after his attack, and in a note found at the scene afterwards it is understood that he was blaming his “brain condition” on the sport which he played in high school.

One of the deceased was named as NYC police officer Didarul Islam, who was working on security and was fatally wounded when challenging the gunman.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said “From our preliminary investigation, it appears that he took the wrong elevator bank and instead found himself at the floor of Rudin Management, which is where he carried out additional shootings and took additional lives.”

The incident brought parts of Mid-town Manhattan and waves of public transport to a standstill, with the city’s Governor Kathy Hochul ordering flags on all state government buildings to be flown at half-mast to honour the victims.

Building home to major companies

Surveillance footage has identified Tamura getting out of a black BMW before walking towards the 44-storey building on Park Avenue, brazenly carrying an M4 rifle, at around 18:30 ET.

Along with the NFL HQ, the skyscraper is also home to the financial giants Blackstone and KPMG, together with many other major firms.

Crazed killer on a mission

As well as the police officer, three civilians, two male and one female, were also killed, and a fifth shooting victim was said to be in a “critical but stable condition” after being rushed to hospital.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that the suspect had acted alone and explained how they had been able to see that Tamura immediately opened fire on their officer before spraying the lobby with gunfire.

He took aim at a woman who was hiding behind a pillar, but remarkably allowed another woman to step out of the elevator without harming her.

Ammunition found in vehicle 

Police located and searched the gunman’s vehicle, which he had left outside the front of the building and were able to uncover multiple magazine rounds and a revolver.

It is believed that the note written by Tamura was also discovered in the car and unconfirmed reports suggest that he speculates that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – which is a brain disease triggered by head trauma – could have been the possible cause of his mental illness.

He accuses the NFL of concealing the dangers of the sport to players’ brains to maximize profits.

Multiple symptoms

CTE cannot be diagnosed in a living person with any degree of certainty, although doctors often suspect it based on symptoms and history of head trauma. Those symptoms include memory loss, mood changes and a confused state of mind.

Nevertheless, police have found no evidence in their early investigations that Tamura ever suffered a traumatic brain injury or indeed had CTE.

Policeman was about to become third-time father

The dead police officer Didarul Islam, was a thirty-six-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant and father of two, with a third child on the way. He had served in the city’s 47th District in the Bronx for three and a half years. 

Tisch said: “He was doing the job that we asked him to do. He put himself in harm’s way and made the ultimate sacrifice.” Later a post on the NYPD account on X said Officer Islam “represented the very best of our department, he was protecting New Yorkers from danger when his life was tragically cut short today.”

Witnesses accounts

Nekeisha Lewis was eating with friends on the plaza when she heard gunfire: “I looked up and I saw the first wall of the first floor, it felt like you were in a war-zone almost.” She recalled seeing an injured man run out of the building screaming that he had been shot and her partner had helped him get away before the police took over. “It’s been literally the most scary situation I’ve ever been in.”

A second witness, Jessica Chen, was on the building’s second floor when she said she heard “multiple shots go off in quick succession” from the floor below, prompting her and others to run into a conference room and barricade tables against its door. She added that she texted her parents to tell them that she loved them, fearing the worst.