NYC Shooting Suspect Shane Tamura Writes "I'm Sorry" in a Note Found in His Pocket

Four people are dead and one is critically injured following a shooting that occurred in Midtown Manhattan on Monday, July 28, 2025. The suspect drove from Nevada to New York in a span of two days, presumably to transport the high-powered rifle used in the shooting. A still image of the man believed to be the shooter shows him walking into a building around 6:30 p.m., carrying the weapon at his side.

Upon entering the lobby, the suspect killed a real estate executive before heading to one of the elevator banks. While en route to the elevators, he fatally shot two more individuals before heading to the 33rd floor, where he killed one more person before taking his own life. Police identified the suspect as 27-year-old Shane Tamura. They later found a note he had left behind. Here's what we know so far.

According to the Associated Press, investigators found a three-page note in Tamura's pocket. In it, Tamura wrote that he believed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE. Per the Mayo Clinic, CTE is a "brain disease likely caused by repeated head injuries," that "causes the death of nerve cells in the brain." The only way to get a definitive diagnosis is from an autopsy.

Contact sports like football, boxing, and soccer can often lead to the type of head injuries that cause CTE, per the National Institutes of Health. Tamura specifically called out the National Football League (NFL) in his note, accusing it of hiding the dangers of CTE in order to maximize profits. The building where the shooting occurred also housed the NFL headquarters. Police believe that's where Tamura was allegedly heading, but he used the wrong elevator banks.

Tamura played football at his Los Angeles high school, but the 27-year-old never played professionally. The former Golden Valley High School football player was described as one of the "most electrifying players in the league" by The Santa Clarita Valley Signal in October 2014. Although police have found no evidence to suggest Tamura suffered from CTE, he believed he did and said so in the note. He requested that his brain be studied, then apologized for what he did.

A former high school teammate of Tamura's spoke with The New York Times about the person he used to know a decade prior. "This is not something I would expect of him," said 26-year-old Julian Torres. "He was a good kid. It’s kind of crazy to see. He was smart, athletic, came from a good family."

Tamura was living in Las Vegas, where Torres happened to run into him with some other high school friends a couple of weeks before the shooting. "He seemed cool, he seemed normal," recalled Torres. What Torres didn't know was that his old teammate had struggled with his mental health. In 2022 and 2024, Tamura was held involuntarily for 72 hours after suffering two separate mental health crises. At this time, it's unclear what happened during those crises.