NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, 3 other people killed in Manhattan shooting; Mayor says NFL office was target

The gunman who shot and killed an NYPD officer and three others at a midtown Manhattan office building Monday before killing himself was apparently seeking to target NFL headquarters, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.

The shooter left a note with his body that blamed the NFL for his mental health troubles, Adams said in an interview Tuesday.

"He did have a note on him," Adams said on "CBS Mornings." "The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE. ... He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury. The NFL headquarters is in the building. ... From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator."

The dead include Didarul Islam, 36, an off-duty officer and father of two who was working security in the building, and three civilians.

The gunman took his own life on the building's 33rd floor, shooting himself in the chest, officials said.

Another person who was shot was in critical but stable condition, Adams said in a news conference Monday night at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The NYPD has not identified the other three people who were killed.

However, the investment management company Blackstone Inc., which has offices in the building, said that executive Wesley LePatner, 43, was one of the victims. Her roles included serving as the chief operating officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust.

"We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue. Words cannot express the devastation we feel," spokesperson Matthew Anderson said in a statement.

"Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed," the statement said. "She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family. We are also saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims as well, including brave security personnel and NYPD."

The 32BJ SEIU union identified security officer Aland Etienne as another victim.

He was "a dedicated security officer who took his job duties extremely serious, union president Manny Pastreich said in a statement.

"This tragedy speaks to the sacrifice of security officers who risk their lives every day to keep New Yorkers and our buildings safe," Pastreich said. "Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line. Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated. Aland Etienne is a New York hero. We will remember him as such."

An NFL employee was seriously injured in the shooting, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed in a message to employees.

"We are deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers who responded to this threat quickly and decisively and to Officer Islam, who gave his life to protect others," Goodell said.

The commissioner said New York-based employees should work remotely today and that it would be "understandable" if they needed the day off.

Giants coach Brian Daboll, speaking at the team's training camp on Tuesday morning, said "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people who were affected in that tragedy here with the Giants."

Jets coach Aaron Glenn called the news “tough” to hear and process.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families,” Glenn said at Jets training camp on Tuesday morning.

The building at 345 Park Avenue was surrounded and cordoned off by police on Tuesday morning. It was still being investigated as an active crime scene, NYPD officials said.

NYPD officers stood at the entrance to the building, which was surrounded with metal barricades. One K9 officer stood at the entrance, where a window appeared still intact but shattered from gunfire. Crime scene investigators were examining the bullet holes.

No one was being let into the building's front entrance, and all but the most essential personnel were restricted from accessing the skyscraper, the NYPD said.

At the news conference on Monday night, Adams hailed Islam, a 3½-year veteran of the force, for "saving lives."

"He was protecting New Yorkers," Adams said. "He's an immigrant from Bangladesh. And he loved this city. ... He was a person of faith and a person that believed in God and believed in living out the life of a Godly person. He embodies what the city is all about. He's a true-blue New Yorker, not only in the uniform he wore, but in his spirit and energy of loving this city."

Islam, who was assigned to the 47th Precinct in the Bronx, was working off-duty in a paid detail in uniform to bring in extra money for his pregnant wife and two sons, according to the commissioner.

"He was doing the job that we asked him to do," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "He put himself in harm's way. He made the ultimate sacrifice, shot in cold blood, wearing a uniform that stood for the promise that he made to this city; he died as he lived, a hero."

Gov. Kathy Hochul said flags across the state would be at half-staff until the victims' funerals. She also, in a statement, renewed her calls for federal action against assault weapons.

"The killer used an AR-15–style assault rifle. The same weapon of war used in mass shootings across America," Hochul said in a statement on Tuesday. " ... The time to act is now. The American people are tired of thoughts and prayers. They deserve action. Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen."

The suspect was identified as Shane Tamura, 27, of Nevada.

He carried a three-page handwritten document found folded up in his wallet, an NYPD spokesman said.

On page 1, the note said “"CTE- Study my brain please.. I am sorry. Tell Rick I'm sorry," according to the spokesman.

That was followed by a second page saying: "Terry Long. . Football gave me CTE and it cause me to drink a gallon of antifreeze. You can't go against the NFL. They squash you."

The final page read: "Please study brain for CTE. I'm Sorry. The League knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us."

Las Vegas authorities told NYPD officials Monday that Tamura has a "documented mental health history," Tisch said.

Surveillance images show Tamura entering the skyscraper carrying a long gun, identified by Tisch as an M4 rifle.

Law enforcement officials located identification on Tamura’s body, including a concealed-carry permit from Las Vegas, sources said.

"We believe this to be a lone shooter, and there is no longer an active threat to the public," Tisch said on Monday.

Tamura, who had driven from Las Vegas over the past two days, double-parked his BMW outside 345 Park Ave. just before 6:30 p.m., and walked alone into the building, Tisch said.

Tamura turned to the right immediately after entering the lobby and opened fire on Islam, she said. Tamura continued to spray gunfire around the lobby, killing the security officer and two other victims, the commissioner said.

At the elevator bank, Tamura allowed a woman exiting an elevator to flee and he rode the elevator to the 33rd floor, where Rudin Management, a real estate company, has its office.

The shooter opened fired on a woman, killing her, and then walked to the end of the hallway, where he took his own life, shooting himself in the chest, Tisch said.

Four other victims are being treated for minor injuries sustained in their attempts to flee the scene, Tisch said.

The commissioner said the BMW, registered to Tamura in Las Vegas, traveled cross country over the past few days. It was spotted in Colorado on Saturday, in Nebraska on Sunday and in New Jersey around 4:30 p.m. on Monday just before entering Manhattan.

Police found a rifle case with rounds, a loaded handgun, magazines loaded with ammunition, a backpack and prescription medication for Tamura. The building was checked and cleared for explosives by the NYPD's Bomb Squad.

In addition to the NFL and Blackstone Inc., the building houses the multinational accounting firm KPMG, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and the consulate general of Ireland.

After midnight on Tuesday outside the city morgue, over 100 NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters assembled on East 30th Street, ready to salute the transfer of Islam's body from the hospital to the medical examiner. Adams and representatives of the PBA were among those paying tribute.

Dozens of police vehicles joined the procession accompanying Islam's body downtown. A stretch of First Avenue was closed for about a dozen blocks.

Islam’s body — wrapped in the NYPD’s green, white and blue flag — was carried out of an NYPD ambulance into the medical examiner’s office. Officers and firefighters saluted.

Earlier, as the scene was active inside the skyscraper, TV footage showed lines of people evacuating the office building with their hands above their heads

Just before 7:45 p.m., Park Avenue north of 48th Street was shut down to drivers — and north of 49th Street to everyone else — while commuters, tourists, pedestrians and other passersby looked north past the Waldorf-Astoria toward the shooting scene. Police helicopters and hundreds of officers from the NYPD, MTA police, state police and other agencies stood on the street.

The National Guard, in fatigues, helped cordon off the area. Ambulances and FDNY vehicles were parked along Park Avenue.

Henry Rosenberg, 25, of Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood, was shopping in midtown when he heard the police response.

"It’s pretty crazy, surreal to see in midtown Manhattan. I thought it was possibly Trump or a diplomat coming through when I saw the police cars," he said.

Then he opened up the Citizen app and saw it was an attack, and learned it was at the building that houses Blackstone, where his high school friend from Maryland works in real estate acquisition. He texted the friend and found out he was all right.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.