Even in an era when the perpetrators of mass killings have become all too familiar, the man behind Monday’s murders in New York City stands out.
The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, appeared to lack the kind of political, religious or culturally driven hatred that’s motivated killers like the Bourbon Street killer in New Orleans at the start of the year or the transgender shooter at a Christian school in Nashville in 2023.
Tamura held an expired private investigator’s license in Nevada, according to Newsweek, and was fondly remembered by coaches and fellow athletes from his high school football days. But he also apparently held a deadly grudge against the NFL.
NYC shooter Shane Tamura thanked a CTE documentary and listed names of prominent neuroscientists in apparent suicide note: sources https://t.co/NMRkSoYovQ pic.twitter.com/2QzKhpAng9
— New York Post (@nypost) July 29, 2025
Tamura entered a New York City skyscraper about 6:30 p.m. and began shooting with an AR-15-style rifle, according to the New York Post. He killed four, including an NYPD officer, before killing himself.
The building Tamura targeted is the home of the NFL headquarters, though the killer never made it to the NFL’s floor.
According to the U.K. Daily Mail, investigators learned Tamura had driven from Las Vegas to New York, with stops in Colorado, Nebraska, and New Jersey.
It wasn’t clear what sparked the deadly journey, but football was clearly on Tamura’s mind.
In a note found on his body, he referred to a former Pittsburgh Steelers football player who committed suicide in 2006 and referred to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease linked to repeated head blows.
That’s a far cry from how Tamura was known in his younger years.
According to KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, those who knew Tamura from his days playing high school football in Southern California had good things to say about him.
“He came in, worked hard, kept his nose down. He was a quiet kid, well-mannered, very coachable. Whatever needed to be done, he would do,” said former coach Walter Roby, according to the station.
New York City shooter Shane Tamura was once a high school football star, winning six awards and later playing in Canada.
The building he targeted today housed NFL headquarters. pic.twitter.com/FmythFKzF2
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) July 29, 2025
A former classmate recalled Tamura’s sense of humor.
“You never would have thought violence was something you’d associate with him,” the classmate said, according to the station. “Everything he said was a joke.”
But in adulthood, Tamura had a dark side — something he did have in common with other mass killers. (Shooting up a school or a shopping mall isn’t exactly the sign of a healthy mind.)
According to ABC News, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tamura had a “documented mental health history.”
According to CNN, Tamura was held for psychiatric observation by Las Vegas police twice, once in 2022 and once in 2024.
“His motives are still under investigation, and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location,” Tisch said, according to ABC.
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