NFL HQ shooting leaves four dead and reignites CTE debate

An attack inside the NFL’s east midtown Manhattan headquarters on Monday evening, in which a gunman killed four people before shooting himself, has revived long-running questions about football’s link to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and the league’s handling of head injuries.

Authorities identified the shooter as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura of Las Vegas, saying he traveled to New York days earlier and arrived at the Park Avenue building in a suit and tie concealing body armor; a staff email from commissioner Roger Goodell said an NFL employee was seriously injured.

Police found a three-page note in Tamura’s pocket blaming the NFL and football for giving him CTE and pleading “Study my brain, please,” which observers say will reopen the existential debate that nearly stalled the sport’s surging popularity during the 2010s; CTE, a progressive disease tied to repeated impacts, can only be diagnosed posthumously and is associated with mood disorders, cognitive impairments, behavioral changes and often dementia.

Numbers in context: four people killed; the shooter aged 27; a three-page note; 376 former NFL player brains examined since 2008 with CTE found in 345; a $765m settlement in 2013; legislation proposed in 2018 to bar under-12 tackle football; acknowledgment of the football-CTE link in 2016; flag football added to the 2028 LA Games.

CTE was described nearly a century ago in boxers and has since been seen across contact sports, but football’s repeated collisions present distinct risk; although helmets offer limited protection, risk rises with years played, especially for those who start young, and the NFL’s history includes the 1994 formation of an MTBI committee, the death of Mike Webster at 50 and subsequent research by Bennet Omalu that was publicly dismissed in 2007 by committee co-chair Ira Casson.

Following high-profile cases—Dave Duerson (2011), Junior Seau (2012), Aaron Hernandez (2017, age 27) and Phillip Adams (2021)—Boston University’s CTE Center expanded evidence of disease prevalence while also noting only one CTE case in a 2018 general-public survey; the league faced more than 4,500 lawsuits before agreeing in 2013 to a settlement without admission of liability and limited compensation for CTE claims, then in 2016 acknowledged the head-injury link as legal fights persisted.

Recent years saw the NFL legislate some collisions out of the game, bolster safety protocols and promote flag football even as critics say medical responsibility is pushed to teams and retired players feel sidelined; Tamura, who never played in the NFL but was a running back and kick returner at Los Angeles county’s Granda Hills Charter, suggested in his note he may have tried coping methods like Terry Long’s antifreeze drinking and wrote that he felt powerless against the league, while official channels soon returned to routine training-camp coverage.

30 July 2025 10:18 By London Health News Desk