Five dead, including gunman, in mass shooting at New York City office building

Washington: Four people, including a police officer, have been shot dead after a 27-year-old man armed with an assault rifle stormed a New York City office building that is home to some of the country’s top financial firms and the US National Football League.

A fifth victim was in a critical but stable condition, while the gunman shot himself in the chest and died after terrorising workers on the building’s 33rd floor.

Police identified the shooter as Shane Devon Tamura of Nevada, and said he had a documented mental health history but was licensed to carry firearms in his home state.

They are now investigating what led Tamura to drive himself across the country to New York over three days, double park his BMW on Park Avenue and enter the office building armed with an M4 carbine assault rifle.

Surveillance footage captured Tamura, wearing a blue shirt, dark jacket and sunglasses, striding casually across the forecourt into the Midtown Manhattan building just before 6.30pm on Monday evening, New York time.

New York City Police Commissioner Jennifer Tisch said he immediately opened fire on an NYPD officer who was doing a paid security shift, before shooting a woman sheltering behind a pillar.

He then sprayed the lobby with gunfire before moving to the elevator bank and shooting a security guard who was taking cover behind a desk. The gunman also shot another man in the lobby, who remained in hospital with critical injuries, Tisch said.

The scene on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street, near 345 Park Avenue.Credit: AP

She said Tamura then called the elevator, allowing a woman to exit the lift and walk past him unharmed, and rode to the 33rd floor. There, he began to walk the floor, “firing rounds as he travelled”. One person was struck and killed.

“He then proceeds down the hallway and shoots himself in the chest,” Tisch said.

The shooting occurred at 345 Park Avenue, at the corner of 51st Street, in midtown Manhattan. The building, which houses investment firm Blackstone, accounting giant KPMG, and the NFL headquarters, among other tenants, was placed under lockdown.

Tisch noted that police colleagues in Nevada said Tamura had a documented mental health history. He was licensed to carry a firearm in his home state, she said.

Pedestrians walk by police tape after the shooting.Credit: AP

“His motives are still under investigation, and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location,” Tisch said.

The slain police officer was named by the NYPD as Didarul Islam. Officials said he was 36, had migrated to the United States from Bangladesh, and was married with two young boys. His wife was pregnant with their third child.

“He was doing the job that we asked him to do,” Tisch said. “He put himself in harm’s way. He made the ultimate sacrifice, shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city. He died as he lived – a hero.”

New York Mayor Eric Adams said the “violent, despicable attack” was a reminder of how easy it was to access a gun in the US.

The building at 345 Park Avenue in New York.Credit: Bloomberg

Adams paid tribute to the murdered policeman, as did New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “He was a true-blue New Yorker, not only in the uniform he wore but in his spirit and energy of loving this city,” Adams said.

Patrick Hendry, president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, said it was a devastating night for the city and its police department.

“Pure evil came to the heart of our city and struck innocent people,” he said. Officer Islam was a hard-working police officer who was proud to wear the uniform, Hendry said.

Tisch said the shooter was believed to be a lone operator. He was seen exiting his black BMW alone, she said, after double-parking it on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets.

The car was registered in Tamura’s name in Nevada. Inside, police found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded revolver, ammunition, a backpack and prescription medication in his name.

Tisch said initial investigations showed Tamura’s vehicle travelled through Colorado on Saturday, July 26, then through Nebraska and Iowa on July 27, and through Columbia, New Jersey at 4.24pm on Monday, July 28 – only two hours before the shooting.

The building’s location in midtown Manhattan is just two blocks east of the Rockefeller Centre and a few blocks north of Grand Central Station. Earlier, local TV footage showed lines of people evacuating the building, holding their hands above their heads.

Police officers walk towards Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort after a shooting there on Monday.Credit: AP

FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said agents from his organisation attended the scene, and an investigation of the perpetrator’s motive was under way.

New York senator Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, thanked first responders and said he was praying for those affected. “We must do more to stop gun violence in America,” he said on X.

The New York incident was not the only public shooting to take place in the US on Monday. In Reno, Nevada, a gunman opened fire outside the city’s largest casino, killing three people and wounding three others before police shot the suspect and arrested him, officials said.

That incident occurred shortly after 7am, US Pacific time, at the Grand Sierra Resort. The town – near the California border and just north-east of Lake Tahoe – is a popular tourist destination.

With AP, Reuters

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