Adapted from: Wrestling Through Adversity

Another scene of horrific gun violence took place on Monday, July 28, 2025, in a building that houses the National Football League (NFL) on Park Avenue—a street known for the rich and famous in NYC. The shooter, Shane Tamura, 27, with a grievance and intent to kill, drove across the US from Las Vegas where he lived. After arriving, he double parked his car at 6:28 pm EDT, walked across the sidewalk while toting his weapon in clear sight, entered the building, and went on a shooting spree of 47 rounds, killing four and injuring one.

The Weapon Used

Just like many mass shooters, Tamura used an M4-style semiautomatic Palmetto State Armory PA-15 rifle equipped with a scope and a barrel flashlight. He legally bought a .357 Magnum revolver using his Navada concealed carry permit.

New Yorkers Took Notice of the Shooting

Unlike the seven school shootings that occurred in 2025 reported without fanfare in May by Education Week that resulted in injuries and deaths in the US, New Yorkers stood up and took notice of the horrific crime committed by the shooter in daylight in midtown Manhattan and not in the depths of a dark subway station or on a crime-ridden neighborhood street.

After entering the lobby of the building unnoticed, he immediately opened fired on an NYPD officer and shot a woman who took cover. Then he sprayed the lobby with gunfire and shot a security guard at the elevator bank. Bullet holes were left in the large NFL crest on the wall. One woman was untouched by the shooter when exiting the elevator.

Although he was going after the employees of the NFL, he took the wrong elevator to the 33^rd floor where the offices of Rudin Management are located and shot another victim before taking his own life. A fifth shooting victim, who was an NFL employee, was injured and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He has survived.

What did the shooter’s suicide notes say?

One note found in Tamura’s pocket accused the NFL of concealing the dangers to the players’ brains from playing football to maximize profits. The second note mentioned Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and blamed it on when he played football as a star high school athlete. On the third page, the shooter requested that his brain be studied, and he said “Sorry.”

What is Tamura’s history?

Someone at a gun show reported him for buying large amounts of ammunition before the shooting. Tamura did not graduate from high school and worked in a hotel in Las Vegas. He had two Mental Health Crisis Holds in his background in Nevada in 2022 and in 2024. These holds allowed him to be detained for up to 72 hours if he was thought to be of danger to himself or to others. In these cases, the medical staff makes the decision about how long the stay would be in the hospital. His father was a LAPD police officer and retired in good standing.

What is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: CTE?

Those who are not sports fans may not be familiar with the term CTE–a neurodegenerative  brain disease—because it is mostly associated with those athletes who play contact sports like football, soccer, hockey, boxing, and rugby. It has been linked to others who have a history of repetitive brain injuries, such as those in the military.

The symptoms include depression, apathy, impulsiveness, aggression, and violent behaviors. Other common symptoms are memory loss, difficulty planning and organizing, and problems with focusing attention. CTE is not stagnant in that it can start in the mildest form in one area of the brain, but the condition gets progressively worse as one ages and spreads to other areas of the nervous system.

Football History, the NFL, and CTE

The first autopsy performed in 2002 on an NFL professional player revealed that he died of CTE. In 2009 a 26-year-old, the first player who was still active, died of CTE. Over the years, numerous players have been in the headlines for violent crimes, suicides, and homicides who were later diagnosed with CTE after death. Beginning in 2011, nearly 5,000 former players sued the NFL for head trauma they endured during their professional playing careers. The lawsuits alleged that the NFL knew the health risks for years but withheld that information from its players.

A settlement was reached that promised to provide benefits to retired NFL players and their families, including baseline testing  and an uncapped compensation fund for those with dementia, such as Parkinson’s,  ALS, and Alzheimer’s (AD), but according to a 2024 report, 900 cases of dementia were approved and 1,100 others were denied including 300 persons who were diagnosed with signs of dementia through a network of doctors.

The Shooter had CTE or Not: A Moot Question?

Whether Tamura was correct in diagnosing himself with CTE or not is a moot question, since the only definitive confirmation would be a postmortem autopsy. The reason why he left Navada with the intention of shooting and killing employees at the NFL was conceived in his own mind. It was his perception that came about because he believed he had CTE after playing high school football. Some experts are now looking at the probability that he did not have it after only playing for a short period of time. Since Tamura never played long-term or in the NFL as a professional, his chances of having CTE are greatly diminished.

This was true of almost all ex-NFL players studied who were subsequently diagnosed with CTE. What is a worry now, however, is a new study from the Boston University CTE Center that suggests it’s not just older pros who should be concerned about degenerative brain disease. Neuroscientists have now found that young amateur athletes who played the most physical contact sports also seem to be at risk, despite their comparatively short, lower profile playing.

CTE Starts Early

After examining the brains of 152 contact sport participants who had died under age 30, they discovered 41.4 percent had signs of CTE. More than 70 percent were amateurs who had apathy and were depressed while more than half had difficulty controlling their behavior during their short lives, even if they did not have CTE. It is thought that these symptoms could have been a result of a head injury itself that causes damage to the white matter and from a vascular injury, but it now is clear that CTE starts early.

As the Reign of Terror Fades, Hard Truths are Exposed

In The Washington Post, Jerry Brewer spoke about the terror that Tamura created that he can’t shake in his mind, even if society moves on to another event in the news cycle—not because of the fear it sparked but because of the hard truths it exposed, such as:

• During a mental health crisis of our young people where suicide, drug addiction, depression, and anxiety are rampant with or without CTE as a factor, Tamura lived with untreated mental illness, and he needed help, which he did not receive.
• At the memorial vigil, Governor Hochul stated that New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the US where their Red Flag Law was strengthened, which doesn’t seem to matter when weapons from other states are brought in by gunmen.
• Even with a security guard and a police officer guarding the lobby of a skyscraper, it is not safe from a shooter toting a semiautomatic weapon with intent to kill.
• Player safety is not a priority when borderline violence in sports, such as fistfights, are a part of a game’s culture where, although a violation, are accepted by players and fans as a way to respond to perceived infractions and to demonstrate toughness.

What We Can Learn:

Columnist Jerry Brewer commented that it is irresponsible for the NFL to ignore the “mirror” in the back of the crime scene on Park Avenue that reflects the violent and dismissive culture created around football. A more responsible society, however, could improve the safety of playing football not only for professionals but for kids who love the sport. Brewer proposes that we care about one another as humans and help those troubled  to promote mental health.

I believe that both the NFL and parents can serve as role models for young people to have fun, learn new skills, and benefit socially by making new friends who love playing  sports, like football. In this way, they can use Mindful Toughness ® skill sets, like what I teach, that  build resilience and assertiveness without violence.

The Triple Threat

In a report, as of July 31, 2025, there have been 267 mass shootings resulting in 258 deaths and 1,161 injuries in the US that includes the NFL shooting. These numbers put the issue of semiautomatic rifles to the forefront. I agree with Gov. Hochul, and I am an advocate of banning them from the fabric of everyday life and in adding further restrictions by law that prohibit the transport of these weapons across state lines, especially where legal open carry, like in NY, is not an option.

One thing for sure, CTE starts early, so a call to action is in order to act swiftly to ensure it is safe for our children to play contact sports. If we don’t do anything, the price will be too high and the risk of permanent and devastating damage to young  developing brains will not be worth the benefit.

Learn more

You can learn more about my peak performance coaching practice on my website, https://www.idealperformance.net and about my book: Wrestling Through Adversity: Empowering Children, Teens, & Young Adults To Win In Life, on https://www.drchristinesilverstein.com.

The book is available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and Audiobook. It contains other case stories of interest from my practice and details on how to use Mindful Toughness® skillsets to improve your performance and meet your goals.

I invite you to follow me on my Facebook page, The Summit Center for Ideal Performance and subscribe to my educational YouTube channel, The Young Navigator, to meet me face-to-face. Please download my free eBook: Unlocking Your Child’s Potential: Six Game-Changing Pointers for Sports Success.