NYC gunman Shane Tamura wanted to target NFL headquarters but went to wrong office, says Mayor Erid Adams

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The shooter behind Monday’s deadly Manhattan office building rampage may have been gunning for the NFL—but ended up on the wrong floor, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

In a series of interviews on Tuesday, July 29, Adams revealed that the suspect, identified as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, thought he was headed to the National Football League’s headquarters at 345 Park Avenue—but botched the elevator.

NYC gunman Shane Tamura 'went up the wrong elevator bank'

Investigators believe the 27-year-old Tamura entered the Midtown skyscraper with the intent of storming the NFL's offices. Instead, he took a detour to the 33rd floor via the wrong elevator bank and opened fire, killing four people—including an off-duty NYPD officer—before turning the gun on himself.

“The NFL headquarters was located in the building, and he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator bank,” Adams said.

The gunman had started his rampage in the building's lobby, spraying bullets with an assault-style rifle before heading upstairs. Police say the entire episode brought swaths of Midtown to a standstill as emergency services swarmed the area and shut down public transportation.

“It felt like you were in a warzone almost,” Nekeisha Lewis, a bystander dining outside the building, told NBC News. “Literally the most scary situation I’ve ever been in.” She described seeing an injured man run from the building moments after hearing gunshots.

Shane Tamura's note blamed NFL for his injury

Cops found a rambling note on his body that suggested Tamura believed he was suffering from CTE—chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head, often associated with football. He blamed the league.

“He did have a note on him,” Adams told CBS. “The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports. He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.”

Tamura, who played high school football in California nearly 20 years ago, apparently thought his symptoms stemmed from those long-past gridiron days.

“Study my brain, please,” he reportedly wrote in the note, according to a senior official who spoke to ABC News. The note also specifically called out the National Football League, thus strengthening the theory that the NFL HQ was his intended target. He ended with, “I’m sorry.”

Authorities haven’t locked down an official motive, but they're now digging into whether Tamura drove cross-country from Vegas to NYC with a singular target in mind.

Honoring the fallen of the NYC shooting

The four victims included NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, a Bangladeshi immigrant and father of two, with a third child on the way. He was off-duty but reportedly tried to intervene when chaos erupted.

“He was doing the job that we asked him to do,” NYPD Commissioner Jennifer Tisch said in a press conference. “He put himself in harm’s way. He made the ultimate sacrifice. He died as he lived—a hero.”

Also killed was Wesley LePatner, a managing director at Blackstone. Her company described her as “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone.”

Two other victims have not yet been publicly identified. One NFL employee was reportedly injured in the attack but is expected to survive.

Shane Tamura remembered as 'a great player'

Those who knew Tamura say the shooter’s descent into violence was difficult to square with the high school football player they once cheered.

One former classmate said he had a jokey personality. Another, a former coach, remembered him as a “hard-working running back” and “a great player."

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