NFL HQ shooting: What is CTE? Gunman Shane Tamura's autopsy reveals shocking detail
Shane Tamura, who killed four people inside the Manhattan building which houses the NFL HQ, had blamed the league for hiding dangers of brain injuries.
Shane Tamura, who shot and killed four people in a Manhattan office tower on July 28, had CTE, a degenerative brain disease, as per the city medical examiner. Tamura, 27, had opened fire inside the Manhattan building which houses the NFL headquarters, blaming the league for hiding the dangers of brain injuries.
The report from the New York City medical examiner stated there was ‘unambiguous diagnostic evidence’ that Tamura suffered from low-stage chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
The Las Vegas casino worker killed a police officer, a security guard, and two others before shooting himself in the chest. He had intended to target the NFL office but ended up taking the wrong elevator.
In a three-page note found in his wallet, Tamura said he believed he had CTE — diagnosable only after death — and implored those who found him: “Study my brain.”
What is CTE?
As per Mayo Clinic, “Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, is a brain disease likely caused by repeated head injuries. It causes the death of nerve cells in the brain, known as degeneration.”
They note that it gets worse over time and the only way to definitively diagnose CTE is during an autopsy of the brain after death.
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“CTE is rare and not well understood, but experts don't believe it's related to a single head injury. CTE appears to be related to repeated head injuries, often occurring in contact sports or military combat”, Mayo Clinic further noted.
They also observed that CTE has been found in brains of people who play US football and other contact sports, including boxing. Symptoms of CTE include trouble with thinking and emotions, physical symptoms, and other behaviors.
“It's thought that symptoms develop years to decades after head trauma occurs,” Mayo Clinic added. They further noted that there is no cure for CTE and though researchers are working on developing tests for the condition, none have been validated yet.
Among Tamura's grievances was that NFL put profits ahead of the player safety by hiding the harm CTE and football can cause. Tamura didn’t play professional football but played during his high school years in Southern California, where he grew up.
“There is no justification for the horrific and senseless acts that took place,” the NFL said in a statement. "As the medical examiner notes ‘the science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study.’”
CTE and NFL
After over a decade of denial, the NFL conceded the link between football and CTE in a 2016 testimony before the US Congress. So far they have paid more than $1.4 billion to retired players to settle concussion-related claims.
Tamura had twice been hospitalized during mental health crises in recent years, officials said.
During a 2022 incident, his mother told 911 dispatchers that her son was threatening to kill himself, adding that he suffered from “depression, concussion like sports concussion, chronic migraines, and insomnia.”
The following year, he was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge after becoming agitated when he was told to leave a suburban Las Vegas casino. Prosecutors later dismissed the case.
The medical examiner's report did not reach a conclusion on the cause of the disease but noted it was often found in those “with a history of repeated exposure to head trauma.”
(With AP inputs)
