A former high school football player, Shane Tamura, who carried out a mass shooting at a Manhattan office tower housing the NFL headquarters and accused the league of concealing the risks of brain injuries, was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) by New York’s medical examiner on Friday. Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas casino worker, tragically killed four people in the shooting on July 28, targeting the NFL offices within the building.
The New York City medical examiner confirmed that Tamura had clear evidence of low-stage CTE, a degenerative brain disease associated with concussions and head trauma from contact sports. The victims of the shooting included a police officer, a security guard, and two individuals working in the building, while an NFL employee survived despite sustaining serious injuries.
In a note discovered in his wallet, Tamura expressed his CTE diagnosis, a condition only detectable postmortem, and urged authorities to study his brain. His manifesto detailed his belief that the NFL prioritized profits over player safety by suppressing information about the dangers of CTE and football-related injuries.
CTE impacts brain regions responsible for behavior and emotions and has been connected to head injuries in sports, affecting both professional athletes and high school players. Following years of denial, the NFL acknowledged the football-CTE relationship during a 2016 congressional hearing and has compensated retired players with over $1.4 billion to settle concussion-related claims.
Although Tamura played high school football in California, he never advanced to the NFL. Authorities revealed his history of mental health issues, citing a prior 2023 arrest for trespassing in Las Vegas, which was later dismissed by prosecutors.