The New York City medical examiner’s office has confirmed a tragic detail: the individual responsible for the fatal shooting at a Midtown Manhattan office building this past July suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This degenerative brain disease is closely associated with repeated head injuries, common in football and other high-impact sports.
CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death. Shane Tamura, the assailant, tragically took his own life following the violent incident at 345 Park Avenue.
A statement from the medical examiner declared, “unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as C.T.E., was found in the brain tissue of the deceased.” The report further noted that these findings align with a “low-stage C.T.E.” classification, based on current medical standards.
Tamura, a former high school football player, shot himself in the chest after the killings. He left a note explicitly stating his anger at the National Football League, accusing the organization of concealing the dangers of CTE. Notably, he requested his brain be analyzed posthumously.
Authorities reported that 27-year-old Tamura traveled from his Las Vegas apartment to Manhattan, specifically targeting the building that serves as the NFL’s headquarters.
The victims included Didarul Islam, a Police Department officer; Aland Etienne, a security guard; Wesley LePatner, a senior executive at Blackstone; and Julia Hyman from Rudin Management. An NFL employee, Craig Clementi, was also shot and wounded.
Excerpts from Tamura’s note, released by police, contained a strong condemnation of the NFL. He accused the league of prioritizing profits over player safety by hiding the sport’s inherent dangers. Investigators concluded his motive was vengeance against the organization.
Tamura’s family has, so far, declined to comment on these recent findings.
The diagnosis of Tamura’s brain condition reignites critical discussions regarding the potential long-term risks associated with playing tackle football, even from a young age.
In a statement, the NFL expressed its condolences: “We continue to grieve the senseless loss of lives, and our hearts remain with the victims’ families and our dedicated employees. There is no justification for the horrific and senseless acts that took place. As the medical examiner notes, the science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study.”
Over the last two decades, numerous former athletes from football, boxing, and hockey have been diagnosed with CTE, leading to increased public awareness and deeper scientific understanding of the disease and its symptoms. Despite this, leaders in the NFL and other sports leagues have often been reluctant to fully acknowledge the direct connection between their sports and brain trauma.
CTE primarily impacts the superior frontal cortex, vital for cognitive and executive functions like working memory, abstract reasoning, and planning. It also frequently affects the amygdala, crucial for emotional regulation, aggression, and anxiety. Typical symptoms include impaired impulse and aggression control, varying degrees of dementia, severe mood swings, poor judgment, and a generally disorganized demeanor.
Historically, most CTE diagnoses have occurred in former athletes who participated in contact sports like football for 15 to 20 years, enduring countless head impacts. However, researchers highlight a selection bias in these studies: families often donate brains specifically because their loved ones exhibited related symptoms.
With advancing understanding, families are increasingly donating the brains of younger athletes, revealing CTE diagnoses in some, though at lower rates and generally less severe than in older individuals. At 27, Tamura’s case adds to this emerging group.
Regardless of age, scientists remain cautious about directly attributing specific actions, such as murder or suicide, solely to CTE, recognizing that numerous other contributing factors might be at play.
Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE Center, has examined thousands of brains from athletes, soldiers, and others with brain trauma. She emphasizes that the link between violent, impulsive behavior and CTE is still poorly understood, calling for further research.
As she recently stated, “There is damage to the frontal lobes, which can damage decision making and judgment. It can also cause impulsivity and rage behaviors, so it’s possible that there’s some connection between brain injury and these behaviors.”
Several prominent cases involving former football players committing violent crimes have drawn significant national attention. One notable example is Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end. Convicted of murder, he later died by suicide in jail at age 27. His brain showed a form of CTE so severe that the damage resembled that typically seen in players in their 60s.
Another case is Phillip Adams, who, in 2021, fatally shot six people and then himself in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He too was found to have an “unusually severe” form of CTE. Adams was 32 and had played six seasons in the NFL.
Former NFL player Dave Duerson, among others, deliberately shot himself in the chest to preserve his brain for study, leaving a note with this request.
However, researchers are quick to point out that these high-profile 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, recently clarified, “I would never draw a direct line between someone’s brain pathology and any specific violent act, because the majority of people who have C.T.E. never committed anything like this.”
For a long time, the risk of developing CTE was thought to be exclusive to individuals who endured years of head trauma in professional contact sports like football, rugby, or boxing. However, recent diagnoses have shown its presence in younger athletes across various contact sports, some of whom never played professionally or even in college.
A 2023 study from Boston University investigated the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who passed away before age 30, with families expressing concerns about brain disease. Over 40% of these athletes exhibited evidence of CTE, with the majority having played only up to high school or college. Of the 63 diagnosed with CTE, 48 were football players.
Similar to older athletes, these younger individuals showed tau protein, a hallmark of CTE, in specific brain regions. However, the tau concentration was lower, and their cognitive symptoms mirrored those of other youth athletes without CTE. Researchers suggest this might indicate that lesser tau levels weren’t solely responsible for their symptoms, and other factors may have played a role.
Professor Gil Rabinovici, a neurology and radiology expert at the University of California, San Francisco, who is working on live CTE diagnostics, commented: “The message here is that there’s less scientific understanding of what’s driving the symptoms in these younger players, and whether it’s related to brain trauma or perhaps other things. It’s going to be important to look at other brain changes that are not tau related. We should be very cautious in trying to attribute their behavior to what we find in the brain.”
Without a reliable test for CTE in living individuals, athletes, much like Tamura, might attribute their cognitive issues to the disease. Dr. Rabinovici referenced a survey where 34.4% of 4,180 former professional football players believed they had CTE, based on symptoms such as headaches, cognitive struggles, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
According to his mother and New York police officials, Tamura was on prescription medication for anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. His suicide notes revealed a deep obsession with brain injuries, firmly linking his deteriorating mental health to his football career and repeated head impacts.
Dr. Rabinovici and his colleagues have dedicated years to developing a diagnostic test for CTE in living patients. Promising avenues include blood tests and advanced brain imaging to detect tau protein in specific brain areas. He describes this crucial research as “slow and steady.”
Following years of public relations challenges and increasing evidence linking football to CTE, the NFL’s leading health and safety official formally acknowledged this connection in 2016. Since then, the league has encouraged children to move away from traditional tackle football, instead promoting safer tackling techniques and advocating for flag football.