Midtown Masacre: Five Dead including 1 NYPD Officer, 3 Civilians and Crazed Gun Man

A lone gunman armed with an automatic rifle killed four people including an NYPD officer and three civilians before taking his own life on the 33rd floor of a mid-town Manhattan skyscraper on July 28.

After spraying the lobby with gunfire, the shooter took an elevator to the 33rd floor which houses the offices of real estate giant Rudin Management, shot his fourth victim, a woman who worked at Rudin and then took his own life, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference.

The police office who was shot and killed when the gunman first entered the lobby was identified as Didarul Islam, 36, who is normally stationed in the 47th Pct in the Bronx. He was 36 years old and had emigrated from Bangladesh for a better a life. He and his wife was expecting their third child. He was working as private security gig at the time of the shooting. One of the victims was Wesley LePanter, a 43 year old Yale graduate who was an executive at Blackstone, a private investment company. Two other victims were later identified as security guard Aland Etienne, a father of two who had emigrate from Haiti and was shot as he tried to halt elevators in the building and 27 year-old Julia Heyman, the final victim shot when the gunman reached the 33rd floor where she worked for Rudin Management. She was a Cornell graduated and was a high school student athlete at Riverdale Day School in the Bronx.

”For now, our city is in mourning for the four innocent lives lost,” said Tisch. “May their memories be a blessing.”

PBA president Patrick Hendry said, “Today is a devastating day. Pure evil came to the heart of our city.”

Tisch said the shooter was identified as Shane Devon Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas, Nev. He began a cross country jaunt over the past three days through Nebraska and Iowa and arrived in Columbia, NJ. earlier on July 28. He was said to have entered NYC only around 4:24 p.m. Monday July 28 driving a black BMV, which he double parked outside the 44 story building before beginning his deadly killing spree around 6:30 p.m.

Mayor Eric Adams in an appearance on WPIX on July 29 said that the gunman was possibly targeting the NFL offices situated in the building. Tamura was a former high-school football player, and had a three page suicide note with him that indicated he believed he was suffering from CTE, a traumatic brain condition that afflicts many who play the sport. He blamed the NFL for not doing more to combat the problem. While a number of high profile former NFL players were diagnosed with the disease, it can only be diagnosed after death. Actor Will Smith was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing Dr. Bennet Omalu. a forensic pathologist, in the 2015 movie, “Concussion.”

“The note was found on the suspect, he stated he had CTE, a brain injury known for those who played contact sport of some nature,” Adams said during his appearance on the “Pix Morning Show.” “And he seemed to have blamed the NFL. The NFL headquarters was located in the building. And he mistakenly went up the wrong elevator banks.”

Police officers swarmed the area around Park Ave. between E. 51st and E. 52nd and locked down several blocks around the office building in mid-town but at a 10 p.m press conference on July 28, Tisch said it is believed the gunman operated alone and that there was no ongoing threat to the city.

In addition to the NFL HQ, the mid-town skyscraper houses investment giant Blackstone Group, the international consulting and accounting firm KPMG, and the real estate giant Rudin Management, housed on the 33rd floor where the gunman went after spraying bullets around the lobby. He killed one woman on the 33rd floor before taking his own life, Tisch said.

Struaus News spoke with one stunned Rudin employee a few blocks away from the crime scene on the evening of June 28 before the full extent of the carnage was known.

”I was downstairs when the shooting started,” said the young man in a suit person who was wearing a Rudin ID pin but did not want to give his name. Reports had already filtered out by 7:30 p.m. that an officer and the gunman were dead although at that point nothing had been officially confirmed.

”That could have been me,” said the Rudin employee. “There was a bullet hole in the glass,” he said, “I know at least three people were shot.” At the time, police had not confirmed any fatalities but it would later turn out to be four victims including an NYPD officer and three civilians plus the crazed gunman all died in the carnage.

”By the time I got out the cops were already in the building,” said the Rudin employee who was still shaken.

After driving to the city from Jersey, the killer double parked a black BMW outside the building at 345 Park Ave. and entered the lobby wearing dark glasses, dressed in a suit and carrying an assault rifle, surveillance video showed. He immediately shot the NYPD officer who was working security in the lobby and one other woman and both later succumbed to their injuries.

Tish said the shooter was known to Las Vegas police as someone with mental problems.

Blackstone’s offices were closed on July 29, the day after the shooting. “We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue,” Blackstone said in a statement. “Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the company said of the woman who was the global head of Core+ Real Estate and was the chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. She was “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond,” the statement said.

Aland Etienne, a Haitian immigrant and member of the 32BJ SEIU who was working security in the building near the elevator was the third victim.

He was shot before he could shut down the elevators. The gunman then took the elevator to the 33rd floor, perhaps in the mistaken belief that the NFL officers were housed there. Instead, that floor contained the offices of the building’s owner, Rudin Management. He allowed one woman to pass him before shooting his fourth victim, Julia Heyman, a Cornell graduate who had attended the Riverdale Country Day School.

“The Rudin family and everyone at our company are devastated by yesterday’s senseless tragedy,” a Rudin statement on July 29 said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and lost last night, including our cherished Rudin colleague, a brave New York City police officer, a beloved lobby security guard and an employee at a tenant firm,” they added.

Tamura then shot himself in the chest. In his suicide note, he said he wanted his brain to be examined for CTE and the NY Medical Examiner said such a test would be performed after the autopsy.