The brain of Shane Tamura, the 27-year-old gunman who killed four in a mass shooting Monday at the Manhattan building housing the NFL’s offices before dying by suicide, will be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to the city’s medical examiner’s office.
A spokesperson for New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner told USA TODAY Sports it would be testing for the disease as part of a full neurological work-up of the deceased.
‘Our office has neuropathology expertise in house and will be examining the brain as part of the additional testing for the complete autopsy,’ a spokesperson wrote in an email.
The medical examiner’s tests come after Tamura asked in a three-page note, found in his wallet after the shooting, to be tested for CTE, which is a brain condition experienced by people who have suffered repeated blows to the head, often through contact sports such as football.
Tamura claimed his time playing high school football in California caused him to develop CTE. He also wrote in his note the NFL ‘knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits. They failed us.’
As of 2023, the Boston University CTE Center had tested 376 former NFL players for the disease. It found 345 of them (91.7%) suffered from CTE. However, an article revealing that data noted the prevalence among all NFL athletes is unknown because it can only be diagnosed after death and ‘brain bank samples are subject to selection biases.’
‘While the most tragic outcomes in individuals with CTE grab headlines, we want to remind people at risk for CTE that those experiences are in the minority,” said Dr. Ann McKee, then the director of the BU CTE Center and chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System. ‘Your symptoms, whether or not they are related to CTE, likely can be treated, and you should seek medical care. Our clinical team has had success treating former football players with mid-life mental health and other symptoms.’
Chris Nowinski – the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which works closely with the Boston University CTE Center – cautioned The Washington Post that even if Tamura is diagnosed with CTE, it wouldn’t rule out other factors from having contributed to his actions. Those potential factors include mental illness, genetic disorders and drug use.