Note found on body of New York gunman who killed four in skyscraper nightmare
The New York gunman who killed four people was carrying a note that offered clues into his possible motive, it has been revealed.
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Four people have been killed, including a police officer, and one other critically injured after a rifle-toting gunman strolled into a swanky skyscraper in New York’s Midtown and went on a rampage on Monday evening.
Shane Devon Tamura, 27, entered the building on 52nd Street and Park Avenue at around 6.30pm (8.30am AEST) and opened fire in the lobby, killing officer Didarul Islam, 36, and two others before entering an elevator, officials confirmed on Monday night.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said surveillance video showed Tamura exiting a double-parked black BMW and entering 345 Park Avenue carrying an “M4 rifle”.
The New York Post has now revealed he was carrying a note that offered clues into his possible motive.
Tamura cited the NFL in the writings, which were found after he turned the gun on himself on the 33rd floor.
In the note, which was several pages long, Tamura blamed football for his apparent struggle with the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), law enforcement sources said.
Tamura also asked that his brain be studied in the note, according to the sources.
“He immediately opens fire on an NYPD officer, he then shoots a woman who took cover behind a pillar and proceeds through the lobby spraying gunfire,” she told reporters.
“He makes his way to an elevator bank where he shoots a security guard who was taking cover behind the security desk. He calls the elevator to the lobby. A female exits and he allows he allows her to walk past him unharmed.”
Tamura then made his way to the 33rd floor, home to Rudin Management offices, where “begins to walk the floor, firing as he traveled”. “One person was struck and killed,” Ms Tisch said.
Tamura then “proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest”.
“In total we have five victims shot, four innocent civilians plus the shooter,” she said. “The fourth civilian is a female who was found dead on the 33rd floor.”
The fourth shooting victim, a man who was struck in the lobby, remains in critical but stable condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Four other people are being treated for minor injuries “sustained in their attempt to flee the scene”.
Victims’ identities are currently being withheld while families are notified.
“No words can describe this act of evil and no words can fill the void that has been left by this tragedy,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said.
“This horrific crime reminds us how easy it is to gain access to a gun ... Tonight we mourn for those who were killed and pray for families as we go through this painful moment.”
Ms Tisch said a search of Tamura’s BMW uncovered “a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition and magazines, a backpack, and medication prescribed to Mr Tamura”.
Police also searched the vehicle for explosives but didn’t find any, she added.
“I want to be very clear, we believe this to be a lone shooter, and there is no longer an active threat to the public,” Ms Tisch said.
Photos posted to X purportedly show frantic Blackstone employees stacking couches and other furniture in front of an office entrance during Tamura’s rampage.
Around 30 people were in the lobby at the time of the shooting, The Daily Mail reported.
The building, in the heart of Manhattan’s business district, houses the offices of investment firm Blackstone, Rudin Management, KPMG and the NFL headquarters.
A witness on the first floor told NY Post that “it sounded like a barrage of shots … Like an automatic weapon. Like a high-capacity weapon.”
“New Yorkers: there is an active shooter investigation taking place in Midtown right now,” Mayor Adams earlier wrote on X.
“Please take proper safety precautions if you are in vicinity and do not go outside if you are near Park Avenue and East 51st Street.”
Chilling images showed the gunman calmly strolling across the Park Ave skyscraper’s entry plaza with an assault rifle at his side before carrying out the carnage.
Footage posted to social media shows bystanders running for their lives outside the building and workers were also later seen filing out of the high-rise with their hands up.
Tamura, from Las Vegas, had a “documented mental health history”, Ms Tisch said.
“His motives are still under investigation and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location.”
Ms Tisch said the initial investigation showed Tamura travelled “cross-country through Colorado on July 26, then Nebraska and Iowa on July 27, then Columbia, New Jersey” as recently as 4.24pm on Monday afternoon.
“He entered New York soon thereafter,” she said.
Christopher Raia, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the New York Field Office, told reporters the agency “stands ready to provide any and all resources” to assist the NYPD’s investigation.
“Initial checks of our internal systems have not revealed any information about the subject, but when and if more information becomes available, we will share what we can, when we can,” he said.
Tamura was born in Hawaii but later moved to California.
He was a stand-out running back at a Los Angeles high school, according to an old post-game interview he did with a local news outlet after a victory with the Granada Hills football team, based in the city’s San Fernando Valley.
“We were down 10-0, stay disciplined came together as a team,” he says in the footage posted online. “Couple of touchdowns.”
Tamura eventually moved to Las Vegas, where he obtained a concealed carry license for a handgun and a now-expired private investigator license, CNN reports.
Sources told The Post Tamura recently worked as a security guard at a Las Vegas casino.
Police recovered Tamura’s rifle, a Palmetto State Armory AR-15 assault rifle, which was smeared with blood.
Tamura was seen splayed out on the ground, apparently already dead, in a photo obtained by The Post.
Video taken by a FOX 5 NY employee showed several officers carrying a person, and other officers appeared to be tending to a person lying on the ground.
During the shooting, people inside the building were hiding in kitchens and bathrooms on different floors.
The blocks surrounding the building were flooded with police cars, fire engines, ambulances and first responders, while helicopters filled the sky overhead.
“At this time, the scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralised,” Ms Tisch confirmed in an earlier statement to X.
Mr Islam, the slain officer, was from the 47th Precinct, but was working a paid detail for the owner of the building, Rudin Properties, along with another uniformed NYPD officer at the time of the shooting, Ms Tisch confirmed.
He has been on the force since December 2021 and leaves behind a wife, who is eight months pregnant, and two young boys.
“He died as he lived — a hero,” Ms Tisch told reporters.
Mayor Adams said Mr Islam, an immigrant from Bangladesh, “loved this city and everyone we spoke with stated he was a person of faith and a person that believed in God and believed in living out the life of a godly person”.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said that FBI New York Field Office management personnel and agents were responding to provide support at the active crime scene.
“Motive is currently under investigation,” he added.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote on X, “I’ve been briefed on an active shooter situation in midtown Manhattan. Please avoid the area of 52nd St. between Park and 3rd Ave at this time.”
New York Attorney-General Letitia James said she was “praying for our law enforcement and the New Yorkers impacted in the shooting situation this evening in Manhattan.”
Meanwhile, two apparent pro-Palestine protesters were arrested outside of the building around the time of the shooting.
It was not immediately clear why the man and woman were arrested.
“Free Palestine, I’m not the active shooter,” the man reportedly said.
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