NYC gunman bought his rifle from his boss in Las Vegas
[July 31, 2025]
By JENNIFER PELTZ and DAVE COLLINS
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who killed four people at a Manhattan office
building bought the rifle he used in the attack and the car he drove
across country from his supervisor at a Las Vegas casino, authorities
said Wednesday.
Shane Tamura, 27, fatally shot three people Monday in the building lobby
before taking an elevator to the 33rd floor, killing a fourth victim and
then ending his own life, according to police. The building housed the
National Football League’s headquarters and other corporate offices.
In a note found on his body, Tamura assailed the NFL's handling of
concerns about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and the former high
school football player claimed he himself had the degenerative brain
disease, according to police. Known as CTE, it has been linked to
concussions and other head trauma.
At Tamura's Las Vegas studio apartment, investigators found a note with
a different troubled message, police said Wednesday. They said the note
expressed a feeling that his parents were disappointed in him and
included an apology to his mother.
Police said they also found a psychiatric medication, an epilepsy drug
and an anti-inflammatory that had been prescribed to Tamura.
Investigating his movements as well as his mindset, detectives learned
that he purchased the rifle and car from his supervisor at a job in the
surveillance department at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, the New York Police
Department said.

The supervisor legally bought the AR-15-style rifle he sold to Tamura
for $1,400, police said, adding that they had erred in saying earlier
that the supervisor supplied only parts of the rifle. It wasn't
immediately clear whether the gun sale was legal.
Police didn't identify the supervisor, who has been forthcoming with
them and hasn't been charged with any crimes. Tamura had alluded to him,
apologetically, in the note found in the gunman's wallet after the
rampage, police said.
Victims' funerals begin
As investigators worked in both New York and Las Vegas, one of the
victims, real estate firm worker Julia Hyman, was buried after a packed,
emotional Wednesday service at a Manhattan synagogue.
Her uncle, Rob Pittman, said the 27-year-old lived “with wide open eyes”
and “courage and conviction."
Hyman had worked since November at Rudin Management, which owns the
building and has offices on the 33rd floor. A 2020 graduate of Cornell
University, she had been the captain of Riverdale Country School's
soccer, swimming and lacrosse teams in her senior year, school officials
said.
Relatives and colleagues of another victim, security guard Aland
Etienne, remembered him at a gathering at his union's office. The
unarmed Etienne, who leaves a wife and two children, was shot as he
manned the lobby security desk.
“We lost a hero,” younger brother Smith Etienne said. “He didn’t wear no
cape. Had no fancy gear. He wore a security officer’s uniform.”
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This image from surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press
shows Shane Tamura outside a Manhattan office building on Monday,
July 28, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo)

Police were preparing for a funeral Thursday for Officer Didarul
Islam. A member of the force for over three years, he was killed
while working, in uniform, at a department-approved second job
providing security for the building.
Funeral arrangements for Etienne and the fourth victim, investment
firm executive Wesley LePatner, haven't been made public.
An NFL employee who was badly wounded in the attack is expected to
survive.
Detectives scour for clues in Las Vegas
Teams of New York City detectives continued working Wednesday in Las
Vegas, where they had a warrant to search Tamura's locker at the
Horseshoe casino and were awaiting warrants to search his phone and
laptop, police said. They also planned to speak to his parents.
Besides the note and medication at his apartment, they found a
tripod for his rifle, a box for a revolver that was found in his car
in New York, and ammunition for both guns, the police department
said.
Police have said Tamura had a history of mental illness, but they
haven't given detail. In September 2023, he was arrested on a
misdemeanor trespassing charge after allegedly being told to leave a
suburban Las Vegas casino and becoming agitated at being asked for
his ID. Prosecutors later dismissed the case.
His psychiatric history would not have prevented him from legally
purchasing the revolver just last month.
Nevada is among 21 states with a red-flag law that allows for
weapons to be taken from people if courts determine they pose a risk
to themselves or others. First, relatives or law enforcement must
seek a so-called extreme risk protection order.

A new state law, effective this month, also lets officers confiscate
firearms in the immediate vicinity of someone placed on a mental
health crisis hold.
“These laws only work if someone makes use of them,” said Lindsay
Nichols, policy director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun
Violence.
___
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Contributing were
Associated Press writers Philip Marcelo in East Meadow, New York,
and Jim Mustian in New York City.
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