Ten years ago, where Shane Devon Tamura was shining brightest, was covered in a green helmet and uniform as a clutch to run for his Los Angeles area high school.
With a new touchdown that concluded the Granada Hills Charter School game in September 2015, the senior Varsity player told the local news outlet that all success for the team is to remain “discipline.”
“Just keep your head high,” Tamura said. “And good results will come.”
However, in recent years, Tamura has been suffering from psychological problems and has been showing troublesome behavior. He went through two mental health incidents in 2022 and 2024, according to law enforcement officials who were described for the investigation. He was arrested in the fall of 2023 at a Las Vegas casino on suspicion of criminal trespassing, court records show.
Then, in midtown Manhattan on Monday, Tamura’s apparent downward spiral reached a terrifying climax. He fired fire inside a high-rise building on Park Avenue, killing four people, including a New York City police officer. According to the NYPD commissioner, Tamura, 27, finally fired a fatal shot into her chest with an AR-style rifle pointed at her.
In notes left at the scene, Tamura repeatedly mentioned “CTE.” Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a brain condition caused by head injuries. Authorities say Tamura intended to target the National Football League headquarters.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, can be prevented by reducing the risk of developing a concussion.
Tamura’s shooting has baffled those who know him best as a promising young athlete.
“There was never anything correlated with this kind of story,” said Anthony Michael Leon, who played with Tamra on the Granada Hills’ Varsity Football Team in senior year. “The Shane Tamura we knew – the 17-year-old and 18-year-olds who went to our school – wasn’t something like this.”
The Mourners will leave a bouquet of flowers outside Blackstone HQ on Wednesday. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
First, “big things”
Shane Devon Tamra was born in Las Vegas on January 19, 1998, but his family was eventually caught up in California. Tamura attended at least two Los Angeles Regional High Schools. He started at Golden Valley High School, outside Santa Clarita, before moving to the Granada Hills Charter in the San Fernando Valley.
In an interview, former teammates and coach described Tamura as a talented running back, continuing to focus on the field and moving quickly. In late March 2015, Golden Valley High School coach Dunkelly told the Los Angeles Times that he was “looking for something big” from Tamra.
Lucas Leppe, one of Golden Valley’s Tamra’s teammates, said he met at soccer camp before his eighth grade and played together throughout high school and made mutual friends.
“He was our guy,” Repke said on the field.
Tamura’s older brother, Terry, also played for the school team. The brother’s parents attended every game they grew up in, Repke said, and Shane was known for being polite to the parents of other players.
“My mom had team meals, and she remembers every time he interacted with something like, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ ‘Thank you’,” Leppe said.
According to classmate Caleb Clark, during his third year, Tamra was academically troubled and became serious enough as he was not qualified to play in fourth year. After his performance improved, Tamura tried to return to football by playing “summerball,” but Tamura didn’t like he wouldn’t start running back, Clark said.
Tamura was then moved to the Granada Hills Charter. At his new school, Tamura continued to be impressed with Gridiron. There, Walter Robbie, who coached Tamra there, said he was a “great player” who was “real elusive, truly agile.”
“He came in, worked hard and let his nose down,” Robbie added. “He was a quiet kid, polite and very coachable. No matter what he had to do, he would.”
It is not clear whether Tamura has graduated from high school. In a statement, Granada Hills Charter said “I attended the fall semester of 2015 and had no connection to the school since his withdrawal 10 years ago.” It appears that Tamura hasn’t played soccer beyond high school.
Clarke and Leppke said they recently caught up with Tamra on social media, although he rarely posts. In one of his last Instagram posts in April 2024, Tamra will be seen betting at the gambling table at Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas.
Tamura captioned the post “Is he dead or alive?”
A time of problem
Tamura returned to Las Vegas after high school. He recently worked in the monitoring department of Horseshoe, a strip casino hotel owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. In a statement, a Horseshoe spokesperson said the casino is working with law enforcement and would not comment publicly on the issue.
Details of Tamura’s 20s’ life in Las Vegas this week were still focused. Records show that he held a work card issued by the Nevada Private Inspector Licensing Board from 2019 to 2024. The work card did not allow him to carry the firearm.
A police vehicle is drawn into La Jolla Classic district of La Jolla, where the house is shown belonging to Shane Tamura. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It was not clear if Tamura had practiced as a private investigator.
Las Vegas court records show that Tamura was arrested at Red Rock Casino on September 27, 2023 and charged with trespassing.
Police reports say Tamura was gambling at the table when he approached the casino security guard who asked him to look at his ID. Tamra refuses and the police asks him to leave. Tamura then stopped by the cashier’s cage to collect the prize money (approximately $5,000). The security guard called the police for assistance.
According to the report, Tamura, who appears to be “flagged,” was escorted to the car park from the casino, but refused to leave his property. He was arrested on suspicion of trespassing after verbal warnings and taken to Clark County Detention Center.
According to Nevada law enforcement officials, Tamura experienced two mental health incidents in 2022 and one in 2024. The specific nature of these cases is unknown, and it is not clear whether Tamura has prevented him from legally owning the gun.
Members of the NYPD Crime Unit will look at the bullet hole door on Tuesday at the scene of the fatal shooting Monday. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Day of violence
Recently, Tamura has driven BMWs across the country. The car passed through Colorado on Saturday, then through Nebraska and Iowa on Sunday. It was in Columbia, New Jersey at 4:24pm on Monday and entered Manhattan shortly after, she said.
Security video showed Tamura leaving a double-parked black BMW while holding the rifle. He walked to 345 Park Ave. and killed New York City police officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone executive Wesley Lepatner, security guard Aland Etienne, real estate company employee Julia Hyman, and unleashed a bullet h.
The NYPD has released photos of Shane’s guns that Tamura possessed during the shooting, including the assault rifle he used. (NYPD)
According to a medical inspector in New York City, Tamura committed suicide after committing suicide from a gunshot wound to the torso. In a three-page memo left at the scene, he accused the NFL of intentionally hiding the dangers in the footballer’s brains. “Study the brain of CTE,” Tamura wrote.
Searching the Tamra home in Nevada, NYPD detectives found a notepad containing ammunition and a handwritten message to his family. Tamra wrote that he saw a disappointment in their eyes, and he was sorry. He had bought a rifle used in filming from the man who oversaw him on horseshoe for $1,400, officers said Wednesday.
The medical inspector’s office said there are no plans to send Tamura’s brain to other researchers, as they have an in-house neuropathology expert.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text 988 to reach Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or Chat Live at 988lifeline.org. For additional support, you can also visit Speakingofsuicide.com/Resources.
However, Dr. Ann McKee, director of Unite Brain Bank at Boston University, who studies CTE, said he was interested in doing brain research on signs of degenerative disease.
Mackie was one of the researchers Tamura was running on his notes.
“We know he played high school football. Our research shows that high school football players are at risk of CTE,” Mackey said on NBC News, adding that the disease “is a disease that can affect young people even in teens and exacerbate aging.”
Notes were found on the body of a gunman following the shooting at the Midtown office tower. The detective said he included some references to CTE. He believed this was a brain disease caused by a head injury or a repeated concussion, or that the suspect had led to his mental illness. Dr. Shae Datta, co-director of the NYU Concussion Center, discussed symptoms, progression, and how to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Tamura’s former teammate, who spoke to the NBC News, said he ran around and made his position as a defensive back frequently into contact with the 5-foot-7 and 140-pound Tamura while playing.
Golden Valley teammate Darrowenir said that sometimes Tamura can sit down because “he deals a lot of blows to his head” when coaches try to run through other players. “He was a little guy, but he was always ready for intense contact,” Neal said in a text message.
“For someone like him, I wouldn’t even think it’s a concussion, but you can hit every play, every other play,” Leppke said. “I wonder what a small hit to the head can do a lot of damage later in life.”
“I feel sorry for the 13-year-old I first knew,” Leppe added. “But the adults he changed is not the path you wanted anyone to take.”
Contributors were Chloe Atkins, Andrew Blankstein, Melissa Chan, Denise Chow, David K. Li, Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst.
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