Gunman Shane Tamura fired nearly 50 shots during his rampage on a Park Ave. skyscraper, where he killed an NYPD cop and three civilians before taking his own life — with slightly more shots fired at the 33rd floor office he mistakenly took an elevator to, police said Friday.
The degree of damage on the upper floor, where only one person was killed, shows how the sunglasses-sporting killer was spiraling out of control as his plan to get to the NFL offices inside 345 Park Ave. rapidly fell apart.
During a preliminary sweep of the crime scene, cops recovered 23 shell casings and 13 bullet fragments from the lobby where Tamura first gunned down NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam, who was in his NYPD uniform working a paid security detail authorized by the department.
He shot at three more people in the lobby in the first few minutes of his 6:30 p.m. shooting spree Monday, killing security guard Aland Etienne, 46, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, 43, and badly wounding an NFL employee.
Cops found 24 shell casings and 15 bullet fragments on the 33rd floor, where he was caught on surveillance video indiscriminately blasting away at the glass windows of Rudin Management before kicking in the office door and opening fire on anyone he could see, including a cleaner who escaped his fury unscathed and hid in a supply closet.
Tamura’s bullets did kill 27-year-old Rudin employee Julia Hyman, who had just stepped out of a safe room, presumably to call cops.
A moment later, Tamura took his own life, shooting himself in the chest.
His AR-15 assault rifle, which he bought from a co-worker for $1,400 had a full clip of 15 bullets, police said.
Barry Williams/New York Daily News
Office workers flee the area of the shooting in Midtown on Monday. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News)
Police sources said Tamura seemed frustrated when he realized the elevator had taken him to the wrong floor. Police believe he was planning to go to the National Football League offices in the building, which were on several lower floors in the 44-story skyscraper.
In a suicide note folded in his wallet, Tamura said he believed he suffered a brain injury known as CTE from playing football and blamed the National Football League for not doing enough to prevent the condition, even though he never played for the NFL.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attended Officer Islam’s funeral in the Bronx on Thursday. Speaking on NBC Sports Thursday night, Goodell, looking haggard and on the verge of tears, said the wounded NFL employee was “stable and improving.”
“I got to spend about an hour with him,” Goodell said. “He’s an amazing young man.”
He also said it was “hard to understand” the violence that nearly came to their doorstep.
“These senseless acts of violence and hatred are happening around our world far too often, in schools, in churches, in synagogues and other places where this should not be happening,” he said. “We all have to continue to be vigilant and do what we can to protect ourselves and the NFL is going to do that with our employees and with our people.”
“We’re going to carry on, maybe with broken hearts, but we will carry on,” he said.
Barry Williams/New York Daily News
Police respond to the shooting on Park Ave. on Monday. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News)
Detectives continuing their investigation in Las Vegas, where Tamura lived, learned that the same co-worker who sold the suspect the weapon, a man called Rick, also sold the gunman the BMW he used to drive cross-country.
A .357 Magnum pistol, which Tamura purchased legally in Las Vegas and 827 rounds for the handgun were found in the luxury car, which he doubled parked outside the Park Ave. building before Monday’s carnage began.
During his cross-country trip, detectives learned Tamura received a 31-second call from someone as he drove through Illinois and a second call, which lasted about a minute, as he entered Parsippany, N.J., just a few hours before the shooting.
Detectives have spoken to both callers, an NYPD spokesman said. It was not immediately disclosed who called Tamura and what their conversations were about.
No criminal charges have been filed against Rick, who was Tamura’s supervisor at the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino where the gunman worked night security, officials said.
Originally Published:
