The individual responsible for the tragic July shooting in a Midtown Manhattan office building, where four lives were lost, has been confirmed to have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This degenerative brain disease is closely associated with repetitive head trauma, commonly seen in sports like football, as reported by the New York City medical examiner’s office.
CTE, a condition that can only be definitively diagnosed after death, was found in the brain of Shane Tamura. Tamura, the assailant, tragically took his own life following the violent incident at 345 Park Avenue.
A statement from the medical examiner explicitly noted, “unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as C.T.E., in the brain tissue of the decedent.” These findings align with a “low-stage C.T.E.” classification, adhering to established medical criteria.
Authorities revealed that Mr. Tamura, a former high school football player, died by suicide after the shooting. He left behind a chilling note, expressing profound anger towards the National Football League, accusing it of concealing the true impacts of CTE. Crucially, his note requested that his brain be examined for the disease.
Investigators stated that the 27-year-old Tamura traveled from his Las Vegas residence to Manhattan. His target, the building at 345 Park Avenue, was deliberately chosen because it houses the NFL headquarters, which became the site of a rampage that ultimately claimed five lives, including his own.
The victims of the attack included Didarul Islam, a police officer; Aland Etienne, a security guard stationed at a desk; and Wesley LePatner, a senior executive from Blackstone, who attempted to find cover. Another individual, Craig Clementi, an NFL employee, was wounded but survived.
Excerpts from Tamura’s note, released by police, contained a furious indictment of the National Football League. He accused the organization of prioritizing financial gain over the safety of its players, deliberately obscuring the sport’s inherent dangers.
The family of Mr. Tamura has chosen not to provide immediate comment regarding these new findings.
The posthumous diagnosis in Mr. Tamura’s brain reignites a critical conversation about the potential long-term risks associated with playing tackle football, particularly highlighting concerns about participation even at a youth level.
Despite only playing football during his high school years, Tamura’s note explicitly mentioned CTE, reiterating his accusation that the NFL deliberately hid the dangers of brain trauma for profit. Police believe his attack was an act of vengeance against the league, whose offices were located in the targeted building.
Over the last two decades, a growing number of former athletes across various contact sports—including football, boxing, and hockey—have been diagnosed with CTE. This grim trend has significantly heightened public awareness of the inherent dangers in these sports and advanced scientific understanding of the disease and its symptoms. Yet, despite this mounting evidence, leaders within the NFL and similar athletic organizations have largely hesitated to fully acknowledge the direct correlation between their sports and traumatic brain injuries.
CTE typically impacts critical brain regions such as the superior frontal cortex, which is vital for cognitive and executive functions like working memory, planning, and abstract thought. It also frequently affects the amygdala, a key area for emotional regulation, aggression, and anxiety. Individuals with CTE often exhibit symptoms such as difficulty controlling aggression and impulses, cognitive decline, unpredictable mood swings, poor judgment, and a generally disorganized demeanor.
Historically, CTE diagnoses have predominantly occurred in athletes who engaged in high-impact sports like football for extensive periods, often 15 to 20 years, enduring countless head impacts throughout their careers. However, researchers highlight a crucial selection bias in CTE studies: a significant portion of donated brains come from families whose loved ones already displayed symptoms, potentially skewing the overall prevalence rates.
With increased understanding of the disease, families have begun donating the brains of younger athletes for study. While CTE has been detected in some of these cases, it’s typically at a lower stage of severity compared to older athletes. At 27, Mr. Tamura now becomes part of this expanding group of younger individuals diagnosed with the condition.
Despite these findings, scientists remain cautious about directly attributing violent acts like murder or suicide solely to CTE, regardless of the individual’s age. They emphasize that such complex behaviors are often influenced by numerous other contributing factors.
Dr. Ann McKee, who directs the Boston University CTE Center and has examined thousands of brains from athletes, soldiers, and others with brain trauma, acknowledges that the connection between violent impulsive behavior and CTE is still poorly understood, emphasizing the need for more extensive research.
She recently explained to The Times, “Damage to the frontal lobes can impair decision-making and judgment. It can also lead to impulsivity and aggressive outbursts, suggesting a potential link between brain injury and these behaviors.”
Public attention has been drawn to several prominent cases where former football players engaged in violent acts, most notably Aaron Hernandez. The former New England Patriots tight end was convicted of murder and later died by suicide in prison. At just 27 years old, Hernandez was found to have an exceptionally severe form of CTE, with brain damage comparable to individuals in their sixties.
Similarly, Phillip Adams, who tragically killed six people and then himself in Rock Hill, S.C., in 2021, was also diagnosed with an “unusually severe” form of CTE. He was 32 and had played six seasons in the NFL.
In other notable instances, former NFL players who died by suicide, such as Dave Duerson, specifically chose chest wounds to ensure their brains could be preserved for scientific study. Duerson, too, left a note requesting a brain examination.
However, researchers emphasize that these extreme cases do not necessarily reflect the experiences of the wider population living with CTE.
Dr. Daniel H. Daneshvar, chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, recently stated to The Times, “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 impacts in professional combat sports like football, rugby, or boxing. However, recent diagnoses have emerged in younger athletes across various contact sports, some of whom never played professionally or even collegiately.
A 2023 study from Boston University involved examining the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who passed away before age 30, whose families harbored concerns about brain disease. Strikingly, over 40 percent of these athletes showed evidence of CTE. The majority had competed only at the high school or college level, with 48 of the 63 CTE-diagnosed individuals having played football.
Similar to older athletes, these young individuals exhibited the 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 a CTE diagnosis. Researchers suggest this could indicate that the reduced tau levels might not be solely responsible for their experienced symptoms, implying other factors may be at play.
Gil Rabinovici, a professor of neurology and radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, actively developing imaging techniques for diagnosing dementia and CTE in living patients, noted: “The scientific community has a limited understanding of what truly causes symptoms in these younger players, and whether it’s directly linked to brain trauma or other factors. It’s crucial to investigate other non-tau related brain changes, and we must be extremely careful when linking observed behavior to brain findings.”
Without a reliable diagnostic test for CTE in living individuals, athletes, much like Mr. Tamura, might understandably attribute their cognitive issues to the disease. Dr. Rabinovici cited a survey where 34.4 percent of 4,180 former professional football players believed they had CTE, based on symptoms such as headaches, cognitive impairment, depression, and suicidal ideation.
His mother and New York police officials confirmed that Mr. Tamura was on prescription medication for anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. His suicide notes clearly indicated an obsession with brain injuries, and he firmly believed his deteriorating mental health stemmed from his football playing days and repetitive head impacts.
Dr. Rabinovici and his fellow researchers have been dedicated for years to developing a method for diagnosing CTE in living patients. Promising avenues include blood tests and advanced brain imaging capable of detecting the tau protein in specific cerebral regions. He described progress on this solution as “slow and steady.”
Following years of PR challenges and accumulating evidence linking football to CTE, the NFL’s leading 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, instead promoting safer tackling techniques and advocating for flag football.