NYC Gunman Was Targeting NFL Offices and Believed He Had CTE: ‘Study My Brain Please’

Members of the New York City Police Department Crime Scene Unit work at the scene and enter the building with evidence bags to collect evidence where five people are shot, with four people, including NYPD police officer Didarul Islam, killed in a mass shooting attack at 345 Park Avenue by suspect Shane Tamura, who is armed with an assault rifle, in New York City, United States, on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via AP)

The gunman who murdered four people before killing himself in New York City on Monday reportedly believed he had CTE and was targeting the NFL’s offices.

According to Tuesday reporting from The Associated Press, investigators’ initial findings led them to believe that the man — identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura — was targeting league offices inside the Manhattan building. After shooting several people in the building lobby with an AR-15, New York Mayor Eric Adams said, Tamura entered the “wrong elevator bank,” and did not reach the NFL offices.

Tamura took his own life with a shot to the chest. In a note later recovered from his body, the 27-year-old expressed his belief that he had the neurodegenerative disease CTE. The disease is caused by extensive head trauma and is often linked to football. Tamura played the sport in high school.

“Study my brain please,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”

Tamura arrived at the scene around 6:30 p.m. After parking his car, he was seen walking along the building’s public plaza holding the rifle. Immediately upon entering the building, he began firing. Among the victims of the shooting was NYPD officer Didarul Islam, a 36-year-old father of two who was born in Bangladesh. Islam was working a security detail at the time.