Police are still working to understand the motive of a 27-year-old Nevada man who opened fire at a midtown Manhattan skyscraper and killed at least four people before shooting himself.
Toting a rifle, Shane Tamura walked into the lobby of 345 Park Ave., an office building that houses the NFL headquarters and major financial firms, on the evening of July 28, and “immediately” began shooting, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.
One of the victims was a 36-year-old New York City Police Officer named Didarul Islam.
Tisch said the suspect had a “documented mental health history.” Authorities believe he acted alone.
Tamura left a note that appeared to blame the NFL for a brain injury, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during a July 29 appearance on CBS.
Here’s what we know so far about the suspect.
Tamura’s car traveled across US before the shooting
Surveillance footage showed Tamura exiting a double-parked black BMW outside of the Manhattan skyscraper. He then entered the lobby, turned right and began shooting. The vehicle was registered under Tamura’s name in Nevada, Tisch said.
Police discovered the vehicle had traveled across the country, through Colorado on July 26, and through Nebraska and Iowa on July 27, Tish said. They tracked the vehicle in Columbia, New Jersey, a city about 70 miles west of New York City, at 4:24 p.m. on July 28, hours before the shooting.
Inside the vehicle, officers found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition, magazines and a backpack with medication prescribed to Tamura.
Tamura appeared to target NFL headquarters
Officials said Tamura immediately shot New York City Police Officer Didarul Islam after entering the building. He then shot a security guard behind a desk, a woman who took cover behind a pillar and another man in the lobby, Tisch said.
The gunman then entered an elevator and went to the 33rd floor, occupied by the building’s owner, Rudin Management, and fired several rounds. One person was shot and killed. Tamura then took his own life, Tisch said.
Public records show Shane Devon Tamura was issued a work card by the Private Investigators Licensing Board in Nevada, which regulates security guards and private investigators in the state. The card was active between December 2019 and December 2024. The card did not authorize him to carry a firearm.
Preliminary investigations indicate the gunman intended to get to the NFL headquarters, but may have taken the wrong elevator, according to Adams.
‘That is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees,’ Adams said during his CBS interview.
Multiple news outlets have reported that Tamura left behind a three-page note that said he had CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The recovered note asked for his brain to be studied, according to the reporting. USA TODAY has reached out to the NYPD for comment.
An NFL employee was seriously injured in the mass shooting, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a memo to staff members.
‘We believe that all of our employees are otherwise safe and accounted for, and the building has nearly been cleared,’ Goodell wrote in the memo, obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
A high school football player
Tamura attended high school in Southern California and was a star football player.
Dan Kelley, a coach at Golden Valley High School, where Tamura played for three seasons before transferring to Granada Hills, told the Los Angeles Times only that he remembered Tamura as “a good athlete.”
An online video circulating from 2015 shows Tamura speaking after a game during his senior year at Granada Hills Charter School in Los Angeles.
‘We definitely had to stay disciplined,’ Tamura says in response to a question about the game. ‘Our coach kept saying, ‘Don’t hold your head down, don’t hold your heads down.’ We just had to stay disciplined and come together as a team.’
This is a developing story.
Eduardo Cuevas and Scooby Axson contributed to this report.