Shane Tamura, gunman in deadly Manhattan shooting, bought weapon from his boss at Nevada casino, NYPD says

The gunman who shot and killed four people at a midtown Manhattan building Monday before killing himself bought the murder weapon for $1,400 from his boss at the Las Vegas casino where he worked security, NYPD officials said Wednesday.

Shane Tamura, 27, who police said fatally shot four people Monday in the midtown skyscraper that houses the National Football League's headquarters, said in a suicide note that he believed he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, and blamed the NFL.

Investigators are working to determine whether the sale of the AK-47-style gun to Tamura was legal. But NYPD officials said the boss, who purchased the gun legally, was cooperating with authorities and has not been charged.

Tamura also bought the BMW that he drove cross country and double-parked outside 345 Park Ave. — while he sprayed the inside of the building with bullets — from the same man, police said.

NYPD investigators, who were dispatched to Las Vegas on Tuesday, also found another suicide note from Tamura — this one inside his home — that read, according to NYPD officials: "When I look into you and dad’s eyes all I see is disappointment. I love you mama. I am sorry."

Also inside the home were three prescription medications for Tamura, including an antipsychotic medication, police said.

The new details emerged Wednesday as investigators sought to determine whether Tamura had any help in planning the killings and to better understand his motivations.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has said that Tamura, a former high school football player, appeared to be targeting the NFL.

Killed in the mass shooting were Didarul Islam, 36, the NYPD officer and father of two with a baby on the way who was working security in the building; Aland Etienne, a security officer at the building; Julia Hyman, who worked for a real estate company; and Wesley LePatner, an executive at the global investment management company Blackstone Inc., which also has an office in the building.

Islam's funeral is planned for Thursday, officials said. 

Abdus Shahid, president of the American Bangladeshi Welfare Organization and founder of the Parkchester Jame Masjid in the Bronx, said Wednesday outside the mosque that he expected thousands to attend Islam's funeral. He said loudspeakers will be set up outside the mosque.

He said Islam's father had a heart attack, not a stroke, as a cousin previously told reporters.

"I'm praying for his family," he said.

Tamura drove from Las Vegas to Manhattan, police said. He double-parked his BMW outside the Park Avenue building just before 6:30 p.m. Monday and was captured on surveillance video walking outside carrying the AR-15-style rifle.

He shot Islam, Etienne and LePatner in the lobby of the building, police said. Tamura then allowed a woman exiting an elevator to leave unharmed, they said. He took the elevator to the 33rd floor and fatally shot Hyman, according to police, and then fatally shot himself in the chest.

Smith Etienne said his fallen brother was a hero "who didn’t wear no cape. He didn’t have any fancy gears. He wore a security officer uniform."

"My brother Aland was a hardworking man," Etienne said. "Always get up on time. Always working overtime. Always doing his part to make the City of New York a little bit safer every day.

"Aland was a brother, son, a loving father — fantastic father. He was a smart dude. As the oldest brother, I looked up to him in everything that I did," said Etienne, speaking at the headquarters of Aland’s labor union, 32BJ SEIU in Manhattan.

"As we go through this difficult time, I ask you guys to keep us in your prayers," he said. "Keep each one of the other victims' families in your prayer."

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, who had been traveling in his native Uganda to celebrate his wedding, went to the Islam family home in the Bronx upon landing back in New York City.

The family insisted that Mamdani stay for breakfast, he said.

"I held the father of Officer Islam in my arms, as he could not utter a single word," Mamdani said. "I felt him sobbing at the memory of his 36-year-old son, who will never come home."

Mamdani, who said he planned to attend the funeral, recalled hearing from the family how Islam and his brother-in-law had timed their vacations for Wednesday so their kids could all visit a New Jersey water park.

"The brother-in-law’s children knew they were supposed to go. Officer Islam’s children knew they were supposed to go, and yet they were at home mourning a father who will never return," Mamdani said.

Mamdani said he wants a nationwide ban on assault-style weapons like the kind used by the shooter.

"It is horrifying to each and every one of us in this room and beyond that a man with such documented mental health struggles was able to purchase a weapon, let alone a weapon of such devastating capability," he said.