Midtown Manhattan mass shooting gunman had low-stage CTE, medical examiner finds

Shane Tamura, the shooter who killed four people in the MERFER MIDTOWN Manhattan TIRhad a low stage CTE, officials announced on Friday.

The office of the New York Chief Legalist’s Legalist revealed the results on Friday.

“Following an in -depth evaluation and an in -depth analysis of our neuropathology experts, the OCME has found unambiguous diagnostic evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, in the cerebral fabric of the deceased.

ALAND Etienne,, Wesley Lepatner,, Julia Hyman And NYPD Det. Islam Didraul were all killed during the July 28 shootout by TamuraA former 27 -year -old high school football player. Tamura got into the chest after killing them.

He Left handwritten notes,, referencing repeatedly cte And by writing: “Study my brain please. I’m sorry.”

Although Tamura has never played in the NFL, investigators think he was Target the NFL offices Inside the office building where he killed four people.

“The league knowingly concealed the dangers for our brain to maximize benefits,” wrote Tamura.

The three -page note found in Tamura’s pocket said he wanted to donate his brain to science so that he could be studied, according to sources of application of the law.

Tamura’s family previously declared that he was suffering from migraines and mental illness, as well as multiple concussion.

What is CTE?

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a brain disease that is most frequent in athletes who play contact sports, such as football players, ice hockey players and boxers. It is a degenerative disease, occurring after the death of brain cells.

Tamura’s final note also included the name of Chris Nowinski, an expert in CTE Leader. CBS News Mahsa Saeidi from New York recently talked with him.

“The most likely place he appears in everyone at first is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, therefore … Behind the forehead, essentially with the idea that when your brain twists violently, this part of your brain moves the most,” said Nowinski. “He kills you Cell by cell. When you lose enough neurons in certain places, you will change as a person.”

Nowinski said, however, an observation CTE would not explain the shooting.

“Everything in his brain will never be the reason for what has happened. Human behavior is far too complex for that,” he said.

DRE Anne McKee, director of the CTE Center at the University of Boston, said that if the CTE is the most discussed in professional athletes, it was also found in student-athletes.

Tamura played football in high school in California in 2014, according to articles from The Santa Clarita valley signal.

“Being a high school football player is certainly a possibility for the CTE,” said Dr. McKee. “We have a recent study where we found that around 30% of former secondary players had a CTE. Now, it is a very selected group of people. This does not mean that 30% of the general population of secondary school players have a CTE, but it is a distinct possibility.”

She said that the CTE can occur without someone receiving a concussion, but rather “it is the successes that cause no symptoms, the blows that we consider minor blows that the player plays through, asymptomatic blows, but these hits can be very substantial.”

“Whenever you meet a young athlete, they do not understand that CTE is not concussion. This is the number and strength of the head impacts,” said Nowinski.

What are the symptoms of the CTE?

Irritability, inattention and behavioral changes such as aggression or impulsiveness are the first current indicators of the CTE, according to Dr. McKee.

The damage “usually starts in small places in frontal lobes,” she said. “But over time, with aging, it begins to affect generalized regions of the brain and can cause deep memory loss and even dementia.”

CTE symptoms generally do not appear just after someone has undergone cranial trauma, but will rather develop over time, according to Mayo Clinic. The hospital claims that additional CTE symptoms may include problems of reflection and planning, mood changes, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse. Patients can also have trouble balanceing and walking, and can develop tremors and difficulty talking.

“We have seen people with a CTE who have had substantial ruptures with reality,” added Dr. McKee. “There is the priority where a former football player has a break in homicide violence and this type of behavior is obviously something we need to prevent.”

Cte in the nfl

The CTE has been raised more in recent years because more and more cases of illness have been found In the former NFL players. Aaron Hernandez, a former player of the New England patriots and a murdered murderer, received a diagnosis of stadium 3 after his death. Dr. McKee said at the time that he had one of the worst cases of the disease she has ever seen.

The former NFL player and CBS sports analyst, IRV Cross, received a diagnosis of stadium 4. His widow said that at the time of his death, He saw things.

The BU CTE center said that out of 376 former NFL players he had tested, 345 had a CTE.

The NFL has made changes in recent years to prevent head injuries, including new rules and equipment.

“The NFL has definitely made changes to the rules of the game game that make the game safer for the players, but they did not do it enough, and they really prepared the field for all the secondary and university football players,” said Dr. McKee.

The NFL has published a message of support for the victims of the shooting and their families After filming. Until now, the NFL has not discussed Tamura’s CTE declarations.

“The NFL recognizes the CTE and will tell you the 100 things they do to try to prevent it,” said Nowinski.

In 2024, the League announced that it will allow players to wear special head protection called Guardian Caps to provide more protection against head injury. The Guardian caps are mild coverings that roll up around the hard shell headsets of the NFL, reducing the impact of injuries to the head.

The NFL has also changed the kicks to reduce plated at high speed. But Dr. McKee said she thought the organization should do more.

“They must do much more than the design of the helmet, which will never prevent CTE. These are really rules of play and styles of play, eliminating the successes of the head that occur in practice as well as the games, paying attention to the players, by monitoring the players for the number of strokes they have supported and really keep a trace of the players over time,” she said.