Ten years in the past, the place the place Shane Devon Tamura shined brightest was on the soccer subject, clad in a inexperienced helmet and uniform as a clutch operating again for his Los Angeles-area highschool.
“Just hold our heads up high,” Tamura stated, “and then a good result is going to come.”
However in recent times, Tamura was apparently affected by psychological points and displayed troubling habits. He skilled two psychological well being incidents in 2022 and 2024, in response to legislation enforcement officers briefed on the investigation. Within the fall of 2023, he was arrested at a Las Vegas on line casino on suspicion of legal trespassing, in response to courtroom data.
Then, in midtown Manhattan on Monday, Tamura’s obvious downward spiral reached a horrific climax. He opened hearth inside a high-rise on Park Avenue, killing 4 individuals, together with a New York Metropolis police officer. Tamura, 27, finally turned an AR-style rifle on himself and fired a deadly shot into his chest, in response to the NYPD commissioner.
In a observe left behind on the scene, Tamura repeatedly talked about “CTE” — continual traumatic encephalopathy, a mind situation attributable to accidents to the top. Authorities say Tamura supposed to focus on the company headquarters of the Nationwide Soccer League.
Continual traumatic encephalopathy, often known as CTE, will be prevented by reducing the danger of getting a concussion.
Tamura’s taking pictures spree baffled individuals who knew him greatest as a promising younger athlete.
“There was never anything that would even correlate to this type of story,” stated Anthony Michael Leon, who performed with Tamura on the Granada Hills varsity soccer workforce of their senior yr. “The Shane Tamura that we knew — the 17-, 18-year-old kid who went to our school — was nothing like this.”
A mourner leaves a bouquet of flowers outdoors the Blackstone headquarters Wednesday. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)
‘Big things’ forward
Shane Devon Tamura was born on Jan. 19, 1998, in Las Vegas, although his household ultimately wound up in California. Tamura attended at the very least two Los Angeles-area excessive colleges. He began out at Golden Valley Excessive Faculty, within the suburb of Santa Clarita, after which transferred to Granada Hills Constitution, within the San Fernando Valley.
In interviews, former teammates and coaches described Tamura as a proficient operating again who stored his give attention to the sphere and moved swiftly. In late March 2015, Golden Valley Excessive coach Dan Kelley advised The Los Angeles Instances that he was “looking for big things” from Tamura.
Lucas Leppke, one among Tamura’s teammates at Golden Valley, stated they met at a soccer camp earlier than the eighth grade and performed collectively via highschool, making mutual pals.
“He was our guy” on the sphere, Leppke stated.
Tamura’s older brother, Terry, additionally performed on the varsity’s workforce. The brothers’ dad and mom attended each sport rising up, Leppke stated, and Shane was recognized for being well mannered to the opposite gamers’ dad and mom.
“My mom did the team meals and she remembers every time he interacted he was like, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ ‘no, ma’am,’ ‘thank you,’” Leppke stated.
Throughout his junior yr, Tamura was having bother academically, critical sufficient that he wasn’t going to be eligible to play in his senior yr, in response to Caleb Clarke, a classmate. Tamura tried to return to soccer by enjoying “summer ball” after his grades improved, however Tamura didn’t like that he wasn’t going to be the beginning operating again, Clarke stated.
Tamura transferred to Granada Hills Constitution after that. At his new college, Tamura continued to impress on the gridiron. Walter Roby, who coached Tamura there, stated he was a “great player” who was “real elusive, real agile.”
“He came in, worked hard, kept his nose down,” Roby added. “He was a quiet kid, well mannered, very coachable. Whatever needed to be done, he would do.”
It’s not clear whether or not Tamura graduated from highschool. In an announcement, Granada Hills Constitution stated he “attended the 2015 Fall Semester and has had no connection with the school since his withdrawal a decade ago.” Tamura doesn’t seem to have performed soccer past highschool.
Clarke and Leppke stated they stored up with Tamura on social media in newer years, though he hardly ever posted. In one among his final Instagram posts, in April 2024, Tamura is seen wagering at a playing desk on the Crimson Rock On line casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas.
Tamura captioned the publish: “Wanted dead or alive.”
Troubled instances
Tamura returned to Las Vegas someday after highschool. He most not too long ago had a job within the surveillance division on the Horseshoe, a on line casino lodge on the Strip that’s owned and operated by Caesars Leisure. In an announcement, a Horseshoe spokesperson stated the on line casino was cooperating with legislation enforcement and wouldn’t publicly touch upon the matter.
The main points of Tamura’s life as a 20-something in Las Vegas have been nonetheless coming into focus this week. Data present that he had a piece card issued by the Nevada Non-public Investigators Licensing Board from 2019 to 2024. The work card didn’t authorize him to hold a firearm.
A police automobile pulls into the La Jolla Classics neighborhood in Las Vegas the place public data present a home belonged to Shane Tamura. (Ethan Miller/Getty Photos)
It was not clear whether or not Tamura ever practiced as a non-public investigator.
Las Vegas courtroom data present that Tamura was arrested on the Crimson Rock On line casino on Sept. 27, 2023, and charged with trespassing.
The police report says Tamura was playing at a desk when he was approached by a on line casino safety officer who requested to see his ID. Tamura refused, and the officer requested him to go away. Tamura then stopped on the cashier cage to gather his winnings — roughly $5,000 — and once more refused to indicate his ID to gather the cash. Safety known as the police for help.
Tamura, who appeared “agitated,” was escorted out of the on line casino and into the car parking zone, however he refused to go away the property, in response to the report. He was arrested on suspicion of trespass after a verbal warning and brought to the Clark County Detention Middle.
Tamura skilled two psychological well being incidents, one in 2022 and one in 2024, in response to Nevada legislation enforcement officers briefed on the investigation. The precise nature of these incidents will not be recognized, and it’s not clear whether or not they would have precluded Tamura from legally possessing a gun.
Members of NYPD Crime Unit study a door with bullet holes on Tuesday on the scene of Monday’s lethal taking pictures. (AP Photograph/Yuki Iwamura)
Day of violence
In current days, Tamura drove a BMW throughout the nation. The automotive went via Colorado on Saturday, then Nebraska and Iowa on Sunday. It was in Columbia, New Jersey, as not too long ago as 4:24 p.m. Monday, in response to New York Metropolis Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch — and it entered Manhattan shortly thereafter, she stated.
Safety video confirmed Tamura exit the double-parked black BMW whereas holding a rifle. He walked into 345 Park Ave. and unleashed a hail of bullets, killing New York Metropolis police officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone government Wesley LePatner, safety officer Aland Etienne, and actual property firm worker Julia Hyman.
The NYPD launched pictures of the weapons in Shane Tamura’s possession on the time of the taking pictures, together with the assault rifle he used. (NYPD)
Tamura died by suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the torso, in response to the New York Metropolis Medical Examiner. In a three-page observe Tamura left behind on the scene, he accused the NFL of knowingly concealing the risks to soccer gamers’ brains. “Please study brain for CTE,” Tamura wrote.
NYPD detectives who searched Tamura’s dwelling in Nevada discovered ammunition and a notepad containing a handwritten message to his household. Tamura wrote that he noticed the frustration of their eyes, and he was sorry. He had bought the rifle he used within the taking pictures for $1,400 from the person who supervised him on the Horseshoe, police officers stated Wednesday.
The health worker’s workplace stated it doesn’t have plans to ship Tamura’s mind to different researchers because it has an in-house neuropathology knowledgeable.
Should you or somebody is in disaster, name or textual content 988 to succeed in the Suicide and Disaster Lifeline or chat dwell at 988lifeline.org. It’s also possible to go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/sources for added assist.
However Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the Unite Mind Financial institution at Boston College, which research CTE, stated she could be enthusiastic about doing analysis on his mind for indicators of the degenerative illness.
McKee was among the many researchers whose names Tamura had scrawled in his observe.
A observe was discovered on the gunman’s physique following the midtown workplace tower taking pictures, and detectives stated it included a number of references to CTE — a mind illness attributable to head trauma, or repeated concussions, which the suspect believed could have result in his psychological sickness. Dr. Shae Datta, the co-director of the NYU Concussion Middle, mentioned signs, progressions and the right way to diagnose continual traumatic encephalopathy.
Dalone Neal, a Golden Valley teammate, stated the coaches would generally have Tamura sit out as a result of “he would take a lot of blows to the head” as he tried to run via different gamers. “He was a small guy but always was ready for hard contact,” Neal stated in a textual content message.
“For someone like him, I wouldn’t even think it’s necessarily the concussions, but you can get hit every play, every other play,” Leppke stated. “It’s like those little hits to the head are, I think, what do a lot of the damage later on in life.”
“I feel sorry for the 13-year-old kid who I first knew,” Leppke added. “But the adult he turned into is not exactly the path you ever wanted anyone to take.”
Chloe Atkins, Andrew Blankstein, Melissa Chan, Denise Chow, David Okay. Li, Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst contributed.
