NYC Authorities Will Examine Brain of NFL Shooter for CTE

As part of the ongoing investigation into last week’s shooting at a midtown Manhattan high-rise office building, the New York City medical examiner’s office has confirmed it will test the shooter’s brain for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The examination will be part of a comprehensive autopsy report.

Last week, a 27-year-old Las Vegas casino worker, identified by police as Shane Tamura, opened fire at a major office building that houses the NFL headquarters, along with other companies. Four people were killed before Tamura died by suicide.

The shooting has also prompted broader questions around security at NFL facilities. “I do think security is going to be part of the conversation for this season,” said Dianna Russini, NFL insider for The Athletic, during an appearance on Front Office Sports Today. “The concerns over that, knowing that they were targeted, and perhaps maybe too easily. It was too easy for the shooter to enter that building.”

Tamura left a three-page note, excerpts of which were shared with Front Office Sports, saying he believed he had CTE, a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma, with which many former NFL players have been diagnosed. “The league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits,” he wrote. “They failed us.” Tamura asked for his brain to be studied for CTE, and he added, “I’m sorry.”

CTE cannot be diagnosed while a person is alive, as the test requires studying the brain tissue for certain protein deposits. “There’s no way in the world any person could make that diagnosis for him,” Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the foremost medical experts on CTE, told FOS. Cantu cofounded Boston University’s CTE Center, served as a founding member of the Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Board, and advises the NFL’s Head, Neck, and Spine Committee.

The disease develops in people who have sustained repeated head trauma, which is one of the reasons that former NFL players have CTE. People who have been posthumously diagnosed with the disease often exhibited similar symptoms while alive, including psychiatric or behavioral dysregulation symptoms—depression, anxiety, and suicidality, among them—as well as physical symptoms such as painful headaches.

Tamura played football through high school, though never in college or beyond. He had a history of mental illness, NYPD police commissioner Jessica Tisch said last week. He had been treated for depression and had been “held twice involuntarily for mental health reasons,” ESPN reported. He had also been treated for “repeated, debilitating headaches.”

Cantu cited a study of mostly young football players, all of whom had the symptoms of CTE—but only one-third of whom had the disease. “You couldn’t tell one group from another based on the symptoms, at least in young people.”

It could take weeks until the results of the autopsy are released.