Former NFL player Terry Long was named in a suicide note by Shane Tamura, the gunman who opened fire at Manhattan’s 345 Park Avenue on Monday.
After killing four people, Tamura, 27, shot himself in the chest and died. His four victims have since been identified as Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Cornell graduate Julia Hyman and security guard Aland Etienne.
Tamura targeted the skyscraper because it houses the NFL’s headquarters, officials said on Tuesday.
However, NYC Mayor Eric Adams revealed that the shooter failed to reach the NFL’s HQ after he took the wrong elevator and ended up on the 33rd floor.
The 27–year–old was found dead with a note that referenced CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a brain condition caused by head trauma that is rife among former football players.
Specifically, Tamura claimed to suffer from CTE himself, and expressed his grievances with the NFL and their handling of the condition.
In his note, Tamura pointed to Long – a former offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had the condition, which can only be officially diagnosed once someone is dead.
‘Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,’ Tamura wrote, as per CNN. ‘You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you. Study my brain please I’m sorry.’
Former NFL player Terry Long was named in New York gunman Shane Tamura’s sucide note
Long died at the age of 45, committing suicide after reportedly drinking antifreeze
Long died by suicide at the age of 45 after he drank a full gallon of antifreeze, a revised 2006 death certificate said. A coroner initially ruled that his death in June 2005 was a result of meningitis.
The former football player was found unresponsive at his home and died in hospital. Only later was he diagnosed with CTE.
Long had played for the Steelers as a guard throughout his seven–year career, which ended in 1991.
That year, he was suspended for violating the NFL’s steroid policy and attempted suicide.
A report from the LA Times in 1991 says that in a statement to police, Long says he tried to kill himself by swallowing ‘two or three sleeping pills,’ contradicting earlier reports he had taken rat poison.
Long later checked into the psychiatric ward at Allegheny General Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
In the months before Long’s suicide, he was also facing legal issues.
In March of 2005, he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he fraudulently obtained loans for a chicken–processing plant which prosecutors allege he burned to the ground in September 2003 for the insurance money.
He was arrested in late March that year and released on $10,000 bond.
Furthermore, he was reportedly struggling with personal issues. At the time of his death, Long’s neighbor said he was separated from his second wife and was depressed about that, as well as the federal charges he faced.
Gunman Tamura, 27, named Long in his suicide note after opening fire in Manhattan
Long had a history of mental heath struggles and was later diagnosed with CTE after his death
After his death, Long was ruled to have sustained CTE. His name is among hundreds of former NFL players to have been diagnosed with the condition after their death.
Amongst the hundreds of others include Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots and Andre Waters of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Long was born in South Carolina and played at college level for the East Carolina Pirates from 1980 until 1983.
Tamura, meanwhile, was believed to have been an aspiring football player. He played football at his high school in California as a running back.
‘He came in, worked hard, kept his nose down,’ his former coach, Walter Roby, told NBC.
‘He was a quiet kid, well–mannered, very coachable. Whatever needed to be done, he would do. I’m just blown away right now.’
This was not Tamura’s first act of violence. In September 2023, the 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at the Summerlin hotel and casino in Las Vegas, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report obtained Tuesday.
A police officer was called to the casino at about 4:30 am after Tamura refused to leave the property.
He had tried to collect about $5,000 from the casino, but refused to show his ID card, the report said.
The officer noted that Tamura seemed to be ‘agitated,’ and that he attempted to ‘grab’ a security officer before he was detained, arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
