The gunman behind Monday evening's deadly mass shooting in New York City had a chilling motive: he believed his brain was damaged by football-related head trauma and blamed the NFL for not doing enough to prevent it. His goal was to attack the National Football League headquarters.

According to NYPD officials, reported by ABC news, and multiple sources familiar with the case, the 27-year-old shooter, identified as Shane Devon Tamura, left behind a handwritten suicide note in which he accused the NFL of ignoring the long-term effects of repeated concussions and requested that his brain be preserved for CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) research.

"He wrote that he wanted the truth to come out," said a senior law enforcement official. "The note referenced CTE multiple times and criticized the NFL for prioritizing profits over player safety."

Target: NFL Headquarters

Tamura, a Las Vegas resident, drove to 345 Park Avenue, the address of the high-rise office tower that houses the NFL's corporate headquarters, armed with a high-powered rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Police now say his intended target was clearly the NFL, but he took the wrong elevator and ended up on the 33rd floor, which is leased by the private real estate firm.

There, Tamura opened fire, killing four people, including off-duty NYPD officer Didarul Islam and Wesley LePatner, a senior Blackstone executive. The other two deceased haven't been identified by the time this story is posted.

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A fifth victim, an NFL employee, was critically injured but is expected to survive. After the shooting, Tamura turned the weapon on himself—but did so in a way that preserved his head, apparently to allow scientists to study his brain postmortem.

"This was premeditated and ideologically driven," New York Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference Tuesday morning. "We now know he harbored resentment toward the NFL and believed he had suffered permanent neurological damage due to football."

A Disturbing Echo of Past Tragedies

Tamura did not play in the NFL or at the collegiate level but reportedly played high school football in Nevada. In his note, he claimed he had symptoms consistent with CTE, a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated head trauma that has been found in dozens of former professional football players, some of whom died by suicide or became violent.

The case draws painful parallels to incidents involving former athletes like Phillip Adams, who killed six people in South Carolina in 2021 before killing himself and was later diagnosed with severe CTE. Another well-known case is that of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots star convicted of murder and later found to have advanced CTE after his prison suicide.

While Tamura's claims are unconfirmed, and only a postmortem examination can determine the presence of CTE, the shooting has reignited a fierce debate about how seriously brain trauma is taken in American football, and what kind of psychological toll it may exact, even at the amateur level.

Gunman in NYC Shooting Cited NFL and CTE in Suicide

A Renewed Spotlight on the NFL

The NFL has not yet released an official statement on Tamura's note or his alleged targeting of their offices. However, the league has long faced criticism for downplaying the effects of concussions and resisting reform. In recent years, it has implemented updated concussion protocols and pledged millions toward brain research and player health, but some critics say it's too little, too late.

On social media, the conversation reignited almost immediately after news of the shooter's motive surfaced. "This is horrifying," one user wrote. "The NFL should not ignore this man's final message, even if he wasn't a pro athlete."

Advocates for CTE awareness say the incident underscores how much more work needs to be done in educating athletes, parents, and the public about the risks of repeated head trauma—and ensuring mental health resources are available to those suffering the consequences.

Originally published on Latin Times

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New york city, Nyc, Shooting