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THE four victims killed in New York City’s deadliest mass shooting in 25 years have been identified, and the full, heartbreaking picture of their lives is being filled in.
Shane Tamura, 27, burst through the front door of a Park Avenue office building and took aim at cop Didarul Islam, 36, who was working his second job as a security guard when he was shot.
Tamura drove from his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Midtown Manhattan and barged into the office where elite businesses like Blackstone, Rudin Management, and the NFL are headquartered.
He entered the lobby carrying an M4 rifle at around 6:28 pm and shot Islam to death first.
He then killed two more people in the lobby before heading up to the 33rd floor, where he killed another before shooting himself in the chest, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that an apparent suicide note indicated that Tamura was targeting the NFL, but he took the wrong elevator and never made it to their offices.
The note found on Tamura’s person blamed the league for hiding the severity of the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which has been found in some pro players.
What we know about the Manhattan shooting…
- On Monday evening, Shane Tamura, 27, barged into a New York City skyscraper and fatally shot four people before turning the gun on himself
- Victims of the horror shooting include a police officer expecting his third child and an investment company executive
- Mayor Eric Adams said that an apparent suicide note left by Tamura indicates he was targeting the NFL, which is headquartered in the building
- In the letter, Tamura claimed he was battling a brain condition that was caused by playing football
- An NFL employee was critically injured by Tamura but is expected to survive
- Mysteries continue to shroud the attack, including why Tamura spared a woman he passed in the elevator
Tamura, who played football in high school, asked investigators in the note to check his body for the disease after he died.
COP KILLED
The victims have been named as Islam, security guard Aland Etienne, Blackrock executive Wesley LePatner, and Rudin associate Julia Hyman.
Islam, who lived in the Bronx with his growing family, had immigrated from Bangladesh and had been with the New York City Police Department for three and a half years when he was murdered.
According to Tisch, he was working at the building on his off hours to make some extra cash because he and his wife had a third child on the way.
“He was saving lives. He was protecting New Yorkers,” said Adams.
“He embodies what this city is all about. He’s a true blue New Yorker, not only in a uniform he wore.”
Friends and leaders in the tight-knit Muslim community that Islam was a part of gathered on Monday night at the two-story home that he had purchased for his family.
A stream of people filed in throughout the night to drop off food and baked dishes for the mourning family, according to the New York Times.
The imam at the local mosque came to console Islam’s pregnant wife and their two children.
One close family friend, Marjanul Karim, 31, said that Islam was a community leader who helped to mentor young Bangladeshi men.
He said Islam started work as a school security guard before moving up to the police force.
“He wanted to support his family and be in a better position, and he fell in love with law enforcement while working security,” Karim said.
“At the time, my mother told him, ‘You left a safe job working for a school in security, and being a cop is dangerous. Why did you do that?’
“He told her he wanted to leave behind a legacy for his family, something they could be proud of.”
Timeline of NYC shooting
A gunman stormed 345 Park Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan, on Monday night killing four before turning the gun on himself.
Cops are now investigating why the suspect Shane Tamura carried out the brutal attack and have released a preliminary timeline and are tracing back through his movements.
July 26 – Tamura drives through Colorado in his black BMW
July 27 – Tamura drives through Nebraska and Iowa. He also doesn’t show up for work as a security guard at a Las Vegas casino
July 28, 6.28pm – Reports of the shooting are first made to NYPD. Tamura had moments earlier double parked his car and walked across a plaza into 345 Park Avenue
Once inside, Tamura shoots off-duty officer Didarul Islam working as security dead
He guns down a woman cowering behind a pillar as he sprays the lobby with bullets
Tamura walks towards the elevators where he shoots dead a security guard crouching at his desk
Gunman spares woman’s life after she walks out of elevator in front of him
He travels up to the 33rd floor to Rudin Properties’ office and fires as he walks the floor killing one
Tamura shoots himself in his chest ending his life and ending the rampage
7.52pm – NYC Police Commissioner Tisch posted on X: “the scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralized.”
VICTIMS MOURNED
On Tuesday, investment management company Blackstone confirmed that Wesley LePatner was also killed in the spray of gunfire.
She was shot in the lobby as she attempted to take cover behind a pillar.
LePatner was working as the global head of core+ real estate and the chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust when she was killed.
She was remembered as a “beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed,” a representative for the company said.
According to her bio on the company’s website, she graduated from Yale University and serves on several charity boards in New York City.
She was married to Evan LePatner, and they shared two children.
Her death comes as terrifying photos show LePatner’s coworkers stacking a mountain of furniture in front of a door after hearing of the attack.
Julia Hyman, a 27-year-old associate at the property management firm Rudin, which owns the building, was also killed in the shooting, sources told the New York Post.
Tamura killed her on the 33rd floor, where the firm’s offices are, after taking the wrong elevator.
Hyman graduated from Cornell University in 2020 with a degree in hotel administration and had been with Rudin for nine months when she was killed.
The fourth victim is security officer Aland Etienne, whose death was confirmed by 32BJ SEIU labor union President Manny Pastreich.
Pastreich said, “We extend our deep condolences to the families and friends who lost loved ones tonight, including that of our own 32BJ SEIU security member Aland Etienne
“We have been in touch with Aland Etienne’s family, and are working with building management and the NYPD to support their investigation.
“Aland Etienne is a New York hero. We will remember him as such.”
Etienne was killed as he attempted to take cover behind his security desk in the lobby.
TRUMP SPEAKS
President Donald Trump described the shooting as “tragic” and called Manhattan “a place that I know and love” the day after the attack.
He wrote, “I trust our Law Enforcement Agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence.
“My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD Officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“God Bless the New York Police Department, and God Bless New York!”
DISTURBING NOTE
Tamura accused the NFL of hiding the severity of the brain condition to protect its profits.
The note referenced Terry Long, an NFL player who was diagnosed with CTE after he died by suicide.
Speaking to reporters, Adams said, “He seemed to have blamed the NFL.”
An NFL employee was seriously injured in the shooting, but is now in the hospital in stable condition, league commissioner Roger Goodell said.
“NFL staff are at the hospital and we are supporting his family,” Goodell told employees.
“We believe that all of our employees are otherwise safe and accounted for, and the building has nearly been cleared.”
Goodell said there would be increased security at the offices and urged workers in New York to stay home and take the day off.
“Every one of you is a valued member of the NFL family,” he said.
“We will get through this together.”
