LOS ANGELES (AP) — The mother of the man who fatally shot four individuals at a Manhattan office tower associated with the NFL and then ended his own life informed 911 dispatchers during a 2022 incident, where he threatened suicide, about his sports-related concussion and other issues, according to newly released details from Las Vegas police on Tuesday.
Investigators disclosed that Shane Tamura, 27, had a recorded history of mental health struggles and was carrying a handwritten note claiming he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) during the shooting. He accused the football league of concealing the risks of brain injuries tied to contact sports.
In the call dated Sept. 12, 2022, his mother mentioned that her son was also battling depression, chronic migraines, and insomnia; was on sleeping pills, smoked marijuana; and had a firearm stored in his backpack. This was among two incidents that resulted in Tamura being hospitalized for mental health emergencies.
“He said he’s going to kill himself,” she said in the recorded 911 call. “He didn’t say he made a plan, he just said he just can’t take it anymore.”
Tamura’s mother placed the call from outside a Budget Suites Motel and reported that her son was threatening to hurt himself.
“He just started crying and throwing things around, saying that I’m exacerbating his condition, so I decided to give him some space,” she explained. “I don’t want you to be upset, but I’m apprehensive about leaving.”
She told dispatchers she would wait in the stairwell because she did not want Tamura to know she had called the police.
Tamura was hospitalized again in 2024 after contacting his mother and expressing intentions of self-harm, as captured by body camera footage made available by Las Vegas police.
Tamura, 27, worked at the Horseshoe Las Vegas until last week, when authorities say he drove his car to New York and carried out the shooting.
