A New York Police Department officer stands in front of a bullet-shattered window at the 345 Park Avenue building after a mass shooting. Photo / Getty Images
The NFL was targeted in yesterday’s attack by a gunman at the Manhattan building that houses the league’s offices, New York Mayor Eric Adams has said.
An NFL employee was “seriously injured” in the attack, Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a memo overnight. Doctors expect the employee to recover from his injuries, a person familiar with the matter said.
“As has been widely reported, a gunman committed an unspeakable act of violence in our building at 345 Park Ave,” Goodell wrote in the memo to league employees, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post.
“One of our employees was seriously injured in this attack. He is currently in the hospital and in stable condition.”
Adams said that the shooter, identified by authorities as 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, was targeting the NFL.
“From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,” Adams told CBS.
“Instead, it took him to Rudin Management. And that is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees.”
Four people were killed, including a New York City police officer, when the gunman opened fire inside the high-rise office building in Midtown Manhattan.
The gunman then fatally shot himself in the chest, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch later said at a news conference.
Adams said the shooter, who played high school football but did not play at university or in the NFL, wrote in a note that he believed he had the degenerative brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
“He did have a note on him,” Adams said.
“The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports. He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.”
CTE can be diagnosed definitively only after death.
Adams did not specify during an interview with CNN whether Tamura’s brain will be tested for CTE, saying, “The medical examiner here in the city, he will make that determination on the next steps in collaboration with the district attorney in Manhattan County”.
Investigators found a three-page handwritten suicide note in Tamura’s wallet that referenced CTE, according to a person familiar with the law enforcement investigation. The note said to, “Study my brain please”, and added “I’m sorry”.
The note cited Terry Long, a former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman who committed suicide in 2005.
A revised death certificate listed the manner of Long’s death as suicide from drinking antifreeze.
The medical examiner’s office called Long’s football-related brain injuries a contributing factor to his death but said he did not die as a direct result from them, the Associated Press reported in January 2006.
The note found in Tamura’s wallet said the “league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximise profits” and “failed us”.
Tamura had a “documented mental health history”, Tisch said.
The NFL employee injured, Craig Clementi, works in the league’s finance department, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
His father-in-law, Robert Hunter, told the New York Daily News that Clementi “was on his way home when he got shot”. He “came through the surgery and there was some spinal damage” but he is “doing well”, Hunter said.
NFL staff members were at the hospital to support Clementi’s family, according to Goodell.
“We believe that all of our employees are otherwise safe and accounted for, and the building has nearly been cleared,” Goodell wrote.
Goodell wrote that the NFL is “deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers who responded to this threat quickly and decisively and to Officer [Didarul] Islam, who gave his life to protect others”.
Goodell told employees of the NFL’s New York office to work from home, adding that it is “understandable if you prefer to take the day off”. He also wrote that there “will be an increased security presence at 345 Park Ave in the days and weeks to come”.
Goodell told employees that there are grief counsellors and other “significant resources” available to them.
“Every one of you is a valued member of the NFL family,” Goodell wrote. “We will get through this together.”
Several NFL employees said they had left the building shortly before the shooter entered at around 6.30pm local time. One employee who had left about 10 minutes earlier said it is “hard to imagine something like this no matter how many times you read about” similar incidents.
Based on previous visits to the NFL offices, the building at 345 Park Ave is set back from the street, with a large area in front that includes seating and often draws lunchtime crowds. The lobby has entrances from multiple sides.
There is a security desk, generally with multiple security staffers seated there, at which any visitors must stop and be approved to enter. The lifts are behind or to the left of the security desk, depending upon which entrance is utilised.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident that occurred yesterday in New York City,” the NFL Players Association, which is based in Washington, said in a written statement.
It added: “345 Park Ave is a part of our football family, and we at the NFLPA extend our sincere condolences and support to the people who work in this building and to the families of those who lost their lives. We also want to express our deep gratitude to the law enforcement and emergency personnel who responded to those impacted.”
Mark Maske covers the NFL for the Washington Post.