The NFL headquarters seemed to be his main target in the attack
An employee of the NFL, which has its headquarters in the building alongside offices of major financial firms, was gravely wounded in the attack, which was the deadliest mass shooting in New York City in a quarter century. The NFL worker was among several people shot in the lobby before Tamura, targeting the football league, used the wrong elevator bank and ended up in the 33rd-floor office suite of Rudin Management, a real estate company that owns the building, city officials said.
“A suicide note found in his possession at the scene spoke to a possible motive in the shooting and may explain why he targeted NFL headquarters,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a video message posted on YouTube on Tuesday. In the note, Tamura “claimed to be suffering from CTE, possibly from playing high school football, and he also blamed the NFL,” Tisch said. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a degenerative brain disease.
New York shooter left a note begging authorities to study his brain
The note, Tisch said, mentions a 2013 “Frontline” documentary featuring former NFL players who suffered from CTE, which has no known treatment and can be caused by repeated shaking of the brain associated with playing contact sports. Linked to aggression and dementia, the condition can only be diagnosed conclusively after death.
“‘Study my brain. I’m sorry,” Tisch quoted Tamura as having written in the note. The commissioner noted that Tamura had fatally shot himself in the chest. The NFL has paid more than $1 billion to settle concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players after the deaths of several high-profile players. It has made changes to the sport to mitigate the risk of concussions, with a varying degree of success it most be noted.
Tamura was never an NFL player, but he did play football during high school in California, according to school sports databases. A former coach of Tamura, Walter Roby, told Fox News that Tamura was a “quiet, hard worker” and one of his “top offensive players” on the Granada Hills Charter School team. Football has been thrusted into the limelight, thanks to some political drama as well as the recent shooting in New York at the NFL headquarters.
The NFL is taking steps to protect its employees in New York
The Park Avenue shooting follows last year’s murder of a UnitedHealth executive outside a hotel located just a few blocks away. Prosecutors say the man charged with that murder targeted his victim as a symbol of corporate greed. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a staff memo that New York-based league employees should plan to work remotely through at least the end of next week. An NFL spokesperson did not respond to queries about the shooter’s reported motives. All this after a recent report that fans and players were up to no good during the Super Bowl last year.
Coaches Database/Reuters
