NYC Gunman Reportedly Left Note Blaming Specific Factor For His Mental Illness

A lone shooter who killed four people in a Park Avenue high-rise office building on Monday reportedly blamed football for his documented mental illness in a note he left at the scene. He shot himself to death afterward, authorities said.

Officials “familiar with the investigation” told NBC News that Shane Tamura’s note linking his mental health woes to having played the game has prompted law enforcement to investigate whether Tamura carried out his attack at the building because it houses the NFL headquarters.

An NFL employee was seriously injured in the shooting, league Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed, but not on one of the several floors that house the league’s offices.

In his three-page note, Tamura said he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, blaming the NFL for his condition and requesting that his brain be studied, police sources told HuffPost. The condition can only be diagnosed upon death, and has been found in a relatively high percentage of former NFL players who were subjected to repeated head trauma.

The shooter referenced drinking antifreeze and mentioned former Pittsburgh Steelers player Terry Long, according to police sources. Long, who had CTE, killed himself by drinking antifreeze in 2005.

Tamura reportedly shot himself in the chest on the 33rd floor, where he died with the note in his pocket, according to The New York Post.

Fox 11 Los Angeles noted Tamura, who was recently a security guard at a Las Vegas casino, was a star football player at Golden Valley High School and Granada Hills Charter High School in California, but did not mention any playing career beyond that.

“Could I have done more?” asked Walter Roby, Tamura’s coach during his senior year at Granada Hills. “Could I help the kid? Could I have reached out to him or could you reach out to me? It’s just a lot of things I’m trying to process right now.”