It happened right during the Monday evening rush. 6:28 p.m. to be exact. While most people were thinking about catching the 4 or 5 train home or where to grab a drink in Midtown, a black BMW double-parked on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets. A man stepped out. He wasn't carrying a briefcase. He was carrying an AR-15-style rifle.
This was the start of the ny mass shooting 2025, an event that shattered the relative calm of a year where New York's crime stats were actually looking pretty good. It’s the kind of thing that makes you look over your shoulder at every office lobby entrance now. Honestly, it feels like a fever dream because it happened in one of the most "secure" parts of the city, right at 345 Park Avenue.
The Chaos at 345 Park Avenue
The building isn't just some random office block. It's a 44-story behemoth. It houses the NFL headquarters, Blackstone, and KPMG. When 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura walked in, he didn't hesitate. He turned right and immediately opened fire.
His first victim was Didarul Islam. He was an off-duty NYPD officer, 36 years old, just trying to make some extra money for his family by working a private security detail. He was a hero in every sense—an immigrant from Bangladesh with two young boys and a wife who was pregnant with their third. He didn't even have a chance to draw his weapon.
The gunman didn't stop there. He "sprayed" the lobby, as Commissioner Jessica Tisch later put it. People were diving behind marble pillars. One woman, trying to take cover, was killed instantly. Another security guard, Aland Etienne, who had worked in that building since 2019, was also shot and killed near the elevators.
Then came the part that still gives me chills.
Tamura waited for an elevator. When it opened, a woman stepped out. He actually let her walk away. He didn't pull the trigger. He just got on the lift and took it to the 33rd floor. That’s where Rudin Management is located. He walked the halls, firing rounds, and killed Julia Hyman, a 27-year-old Cornell grad.
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Eventually, the guy barricaded himself in a hallway and ended it with a single shot to his own chest.
What the Note in His Pocket Actually Said
There’s been a ton of talk online about why he did it. Was it political? Was it just random? Well, the cops found a three-page note in his wallet. It wasn't some political manifesto. It was a plea and a rambling accusation.
"Study my brain please," the note said.
Tamura was convinced he had CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). That’s the brain disease football players get from too many hits to the head. He’d lived in Las Vegas and grew up in California, but he had this deep, burning grievance against the NFL. Mayor Eric Adams basically said it looks like he was actually trying to find the NFL offices—which are on the 5th floor—but he ended up on the 33rd by mistake.
He mentioned Terry Long in the note. Long was an NFL player who died by suicide after drinking antifreeze and was later diagnosed with CTE. Tamura wrote, "You can't go against the NFL, they'll squash you."
The weirdest part?
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There’s no record of him ever playing professional or even high-level college football. He was a security guard at a casino in Vegas. It seems his "CTE" might have been self-diagnosed or part of a larger mental health struggle that went unnoticed until it was too late.
The Victims We Should Remember
In these things, the shooter gets the headlines, but the people who died were the real story of the ny mass shooting 2025.
- Didarul Islam (36): A "true blue hero." He was posthumously promoted to Detective First Grade.
- Wesley LePatner: A senior executive at Blackstone. Her colleagues described her as "brilliant" and "generous." She left behind a husband and children.
- Aland Etienne (46): A veteran security guard and a father. He was just doing his job.
- Julia Hyman (27): A young professional with her whole life ahead of her.
There was also a 41-year-old NFL associate who was shot in the back. He survived, but imagine going to work to check spreadsheets and ending up in surgery for a gunshot wound.
How He Got the Gun
New York has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but Tamura didn't buy the gun here. He drove across the country from Nevada. He had a concealed carry permit in Vegas and an expired private investigator license.
Investigators say he bought the rifle from a supervisor at the casino where he worked. The supervisor claims it was a legal sale. Tamura also had a Colt Python .357 Magnum in his car, along with Zoloft and some marijuana.
He drove through Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa. He was in New Jersey at 4:24 p.m. that Monday. Two hours later, he was on Park Avenue. It shows how easy it is for someone to bypass state-level restrictions just by putting a few tanks of gas in their car.
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The Aftermath and Public Safety
Governor Kathy Hochul used this tragedy to push for even more bans on "assault-style" weapons. It’s a polarizing conversation, as it always is. Some say no law would have stopped a guy driving 2,500 miles with a gun he already owned. Others say if that gun wasn't available in Nevada, he wouldn't have had it in Manhattan.
What’s interesting is that despite this high-profile horror, 2025 was actually a record-low year for shootings in New York City. Commissioner Tisch pointed out that shooting victims were down 22% compared to 2024. But stats don't matter much when you're the one standing in a lobby on Park Avenue.
The city has since increased "precision policing" in Midtown, but the reality is that open-access office buildings are still incredibly vulnerable. You can have all the keycards in the world, but if someone walks into the lobby with a rifle, the lobby is where the tragedy happens.
Actionable Insights for New Yorkers
If you're working in a high-rise or just commuting through these areas, there are a few things to keep in mind based on how this situation unfolded.
- Know the Secondary Exits: In the 345 Park shooting, many people escaped through side service entrances while the shooter was focused on the main elevator bank. Don't just rely on the revolving doors you use every morning.
- The "Run, Hide, Fight" Protocol: It sounds cliché, but it saved lives that day. People who heard the first shots and didn't wait to "see what it was" were the ones who got out before the lobby became a trap.
- Vigilance in "Safe" Zones: Midtown isn't the Bronx or East New York. People tend to have their guard down. But as we saw with the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting earlier and then this, high-profile targets are often in high-security areas.
- Mental Health Checks: If you have friends or family obsessed with specific grievances—like Tamura was with the NFL and CTE—pay attention. He wasn't on the FBI's radar, but he was clearly spiraling long before he double-parked that BMW.
The ny mass shooting 2025 remains a dark stain on a year that was supposed to be a "safest ever" milestone for the NYPD. It’s a reminder that even in a city of millions, one person with a grievance and a rifle can change everything in less than ten minutes.
Stay aware of your building's emergency protocols and never assume that a "good neighborhood" is a shield against the unpredictable. The investigation into Tamura's full motives continues, particularly regarding his medical history and the legality of his firearm purchase in Nevada.