NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was overcome with emotion as he conducted his first interview since the deadly shooting at the league’s headquarters in New York.
On Monday night, Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old licensed private investigator from Las Vegas, opened fire at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, killing four people.
NYPD have since claimed that Tamura was targeting the NFL offices on another floor but entered the wrong elevator and instead ended up at a real estate office.
In the following days, Goodell released a solemn letter addressing the issue and asking colleagues to stay away from the league’s Manhattan’s offices.
Then, on Thursday night, Goodell appeared on NBC’s broadcast ahead of the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game to once again speak on the matter.
Reflecting on the death of NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Goodell said: ‘Well, first, [it’s a] tremendous loss. You see the officer’s family, his young children… it’s something that happens in the line of work for police officers but that never makes it easy.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave his first interview since the deadly NYC shootings
One NFL employee was left hospitalized after an active shooter entered their headquarters
The tragedy unfolded Monday night when Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas exited a double-parked BMW armed with a rifle before entering the midtown-Manhattan skyscraper
‘[He’s] somebody that we see outside the building most every day when we come in. And it hits home, the unnecessary and unexplainable loss.
‘It’s something that all of us as New Yorkers feel a great pride in the NYPD and the first responders. It was a difficult, emotional afternoon.’
While Tamura did not enter the fifth floor – where the NFL headquarters are located – officers have determined that he was in fact trying to locate the league’s office.
Reflecting on that fact, Goodell said: ‘It’s a difficult thing, particularly when you’re dealing with a senseless act like this.
‘There are no excuses for the senseless acts. They’re hard for all of us to understand. When it inflicts pain on people you know and people you care about and people you deal with on a daily basis, that’s particularly hard.
‘But as you know, these acts of senseless violence are happening in our country and around our world far too often. In churches, and schools and synagogues and other places that this should just not be happening.
‘We all have to continue to be vigilant and continue to protect ourselves. The NFL is going to continue to do that with our employees and our people.’
Goodell also provided an update on the NFL employee who was injured during the shooting and insisted that he’s ‘stable and improving’.
The league commissioner revealed that he got to speak with the family after visiting the victim in the hospital.
During his interview, Goodell insisted that ‘there are no excuses for the senseless acts’
The tragedy unfolded Monday night when Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas exited a BMW armed with a rifle before entering the midtown-Manhattan skyscraper.
New York Police Department officials say Tamura then fired on one officer and sprayed the lobby with bullets before taking an elevator to the 33rd floor, where he fatally shot another person and killed himself.
A note found in his wallet later implied he was upset with the NFL over his belief he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma.
CTE, as it is known, can only be diagnosed posthumously. Tamura, who was reportedly a former high school football player, asked to have his brain studied after his death. Police say he had a history of mental illness.
