In a tragic and unsettling discovery, the New York City medical examiner’s office has confirmed that Shane Tamura, the gunman responsible for the horrific July shooting at a Midtown Manhattan office building, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This degenerative brain disease is strongly linked to repeated head injuries, a common affliction in contact sports like football.
CTE, a condition diagnosable only after death, was found in Mr. Tamura’s brain tissue following his suicide after the shooting spree at 345 Park Avenue. The medical examiner’s report clearly indicated “unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy,” classified as low-stage CTE according to current scientific consensus.
Mr. Tamura, a 27-year-old former high school football player, took his own life after killing four innocent people. He left behind a chilling note expressing profound anger at the National Football League, accusing the organization of concealing the true dangers of CTE. In a poignant request, he asked for his brain to be studied.
Authorities revealed that Tamura traveled from Las Vegas to target the building specifically because it housed the NFL headquarters. The victims of this senseless act included Didarul Islam, a Police Department officer; Aland Etienne, a security guard; Wesley LePatner, a senior executive at Blackstone; and Julia Hyman, who worked at Rudin Management. An NFL employee, Craig Clementi, was also wounded.
Excerpts from Tamura’s note, released by police, intensely criticized the NFL, alleging the league prioritized profits over player safety by concealing the true risks of the sport. His family chose not to comment on the medical examiner’s findings.
This revelation surrounding Tamura’s brain condition reignites urgent questions about the potential long-term dangers of playing tackle football, even at the youth level. In response, the NFL issued a statement expressing continued grief for the victims and their families, asserting “no justification for the horrific and senseless acts.” The league also highlighted that “the science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study.”
The Concussion Legacy Foundation, a leading advocate for CTE research, emphasized that while a brain disease cannot fully explain human behavior, and CTE should not be singularly blamed for the tragedy, it is crucial for youth and high school football organizations to acknowledge the risk of CTE in players. They urged these organizations to educate coaches and implement effective preventative measures.
Over the past two decades, numerous former football players, boxers, and hockey players have been diagnosed with CTE, significantly raising awareness about the inherent dangers of these sports. Researchers have made considerable progress in understanding the disease and its debilitating symptoms. However, leaders of the NFL and other major leagues have often been reluctant to fully acknowledge the direct correlation between their sports and brain trauma.
CTE commonly impacts the superior frontal cortex, a critical area for cognitive functions like memory, reasoning, and planning. It also frequently affects the amygdala, which plays a vital role in emotional control, aggression, and anxiety. Symptoms often include struggles with aggression and impulses, varying degrees of dementia, mood swings, impaired judgment, and disorganized behavior.
Historically, most CTE cases were identified in athletes with long careers in contact and collision sports, having endured thousands of head impacts. However, researchers caution that these studies may suffer from selection bias, as families are often prompted to donate brains due to observed symptoms. Despite this, a growing number of younger athletes, including 27-year-old Mr. Tamura, are being diagnosed with CTE, often with less severe manifestations than those seen in older individuals.
Regardless of age, scientists remain cautious about directly linking CTE to specific violent acts, such as murder or suicide, acknowledging that many other complex factors contribute to such decisions. Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE Center, who has meticulously studied thousands of brains, underscores the limited understanding of the link between violent, impulsive behavior and CTE, calling for more extensive research.
Dr. McKee noted that damage to the frontal lobes, which is characteristic of CTE, can impair decision-making and judgment, and also trigger impulsivity and rage. She stated, “It can also cause impulsivity and rage behaviors, so it’s possible that there’s some connection between brain injury and these behaviors.”
Several high-profile cases involving former football players committing violent crimes have drawn national attention. Aaron Hernandez, a New England Patriots tight end, was convicted of murder and later died by suicide in jail. At just 27, Hernandez exhibited a remarkably severe form of CTE, comparable to that found in players decades older. Similarly, Phillip Adams, who tragically shot six people and then himself in South Carolina in 2021, was also found to have an “unusually severe” form of CTE. He was 32 and had played six seasons in the NFL.
Other former NFL players, such as Dave Duerson, specifically chose to shoot themselves in the chest to preserve their brains for study, explicitly requesting CTE research in their suicide notes. Nevertheless, experts emphasize that these extreme cases do not necessarily represent the broader population of individuals living with CTE.
Dr. Daniel H. Daneshvar, chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, stated that a direct link between brain pathology and a specific violent act should not be assumed, as the majority of people with CTE do not commit such acts. Initially, the risk of CTE was thought to be confined to professional athletes in high-impact sports. Yet, recent findings show diagnoses in younger athletes across various contact sports, even those who never played beyond high school or college.
A 2023 Boston University study, for instance, examined the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who died before age 30, whose families harbored concerns about brain disease. Over 40% (63 individuals) showed evidence of CTE, with most having played only through high school or college football. While these younger athletes displayed the characteristic tau protein associated with CTE, its concentration was lower than in older athletes. Their cognitive symptoms also mirrored those of other young athletes without CTE, suggesting that the tau protein might not be the sole driver of symptoms, and other factors could be at play.
Dr. Gil Rabinovici, a neurology and radiology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who is developing live diagnostic imaging techniques for dementia and CTE, advised caution. He highlighted that less is understood about what causes symptoms in younger players and whether they directly relate to brain trauma or other underlying issues. He stressed the importance of investigating other non-tau related brain changes.
In the absence of a definitive diagnostic test for living individuals, athletes like Mr. Tamura may wrongly attribute their cognitive difficulties to CTE. Dr. Rabinovici cited a survey where 34.4% of 4,180 former professional football players believed they had CTE, based on symptoms including headaches, cognitive issues, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
According to his mother and New York police officials, Mr. Tamura was on medication for anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. His personal notes revealed a deep obsession with brain injuries, firmly believing his declining mental health stemmed from playing football and enduring repeated head impacts.
Dr. Rabinovici and his team are diligently working to develop a live diagnostic test for CTE, with promising advances in blood tests and brain imaging to detect the tau protein. He described progress in this area as “slow and steady.”
After years of intense public scrutiny and mounting evidence linking football to CTE, the NFL’s top health and safety official finally acknowledged this connection in 2016. Since then, the league has actively encouraged children to move away from traditional tackle football, advocating for safer tackling techniques and promoting flag football as an alternative.