Four Killed in NYC Mass Shooting

Safety at Work

New York, NY (WorkersCompensation.com) – A New York City cop, a building guard, a corporate executive, and an employee of the building’s owner were the victims of a lone gunman in a NYC skyscraper on Monday.

Officials said the shooter entered 345 Park Ave. around 6:30 p.m. on Monday July 28 and started shooting. According to CNN, he left his black BMW sedan double-parked on the street and walked in the entrance wearing sunglasses and carrying an assault rifle. Retired NYPD Capt. John Monaghan said security video of the attack showed a man ready to die.

“It’s clear from the picture he is not worried about getting caught,” Monaghan told CNN. “This is a guy who went into that building knowing, intending to kill someone and probably knowing he was not going to come out alive.”

The gunman, Shane Tamura, 27, entered the lobby, then shot and killed police officer Didarul Islan, 36. Tamura then shot a woman behind a pillar in the lobby before heading toward the elevators video surveillance showed. He then shot a security and killed a security guard crouching behind his desk.

Reports indicated he shot another man in the lobby. That victim was later taken to a nearby hospital in critical but stable condition.

The gunman then went up to the 33rd floor where the building’s owner, Rudin Properties. Once on the floor, reports indicate that he began to walk through the floor, firing as he walked. There he shot and killed a woman on the floor before shooting himself in the chest.

Investigators said the victims were employees within the building. Police identified the security guard as Aland Etienne. Members of his union,

In its statement, his labor union, 32BJ SEIU, called Etienne a "New York hero."

"This tragedy speaks to the sacrifice of security officers who risk their lives every day to keep New Yorkers and our buildings safe. Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line," union leaders said in a statement.

The woman shot and killed in the lobby was Wesley LePatner, an employee of Blackstone Inc., and a board member of the Jewish charity UJA-Federation of New York.

"Wesley was extraordinary in every way — personally, professionally, and philanthropically. An exceptional leader in the financial world, she brought thoughtfulness, vision, and compassion to everything she did," the UJA statement said.

The employee for Rudin Properties was identified as Julia Hyman. In a statement, the property company’s outside spokesman, Bud Perrone of Rubenstein, said in a statement that the "Rudin family and everyone at our company are devastated by yesterday's senseless tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and lost last night, including our cherished Rudin colleague." 

On Tuesday, New York City Eric Adams and the NYPD said Tamura was found with a suicide note and blamed the NFL for his mental health problems, citing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and asked science to study his brain for concussion injuries. The suicide note specifically mentioned Terry Long, the former Pittsburgh Steelers player who was diagnosed with CTE after drinking antifreeze to kill himself 20 years ago.

According to the New York Post, Tamura wrote, “Terry Long, football gave me CTE, and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreez. ... You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you.”

Also on the suicide note were the words, “Frontline Documentary” that officials determined was a reference to the “League of Denial” documentary looking at the links between the NFL and brain injuries. Tamura’s note also mentions the ESPN reporters who co-wrote the book the documentary was based on, and Dr. Ann McKee, the chief of neuropathology at Boston University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Dr. Christopher Nowinski, the co-founder of BU’s CTE Center.

Officials said Tamura never played professional football but was a standout player on his high school football team in Santa Clarita, California. Tamura moved to Las Vegas after high school and at one time worked in security at Horsehoe Las Vegas casino.

NYPD said Tamura was a licensed private investigator from Las Vegas who had dreamed of becoming a professional football player. He was described as having a “documented mental health history” and allegedly arrived in midtown Manhattan on Monday afternoon after a days-long cross-country trip.

CNN’s chief law enforcement analyst John Miller, a former NYPD deputy commissioner said shooters like Tamura often spiral out of control quietly, blaming others for their failures and building up resentments until the explode into tragedy.

“They blame their problems on other people and entities,” he said. “Then they decide to get even -- with the world, with everyone -- even though the problem usually begins and ends with themselves.

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