The BU CTE Middle is “willing to help” with the investigation into the NYC lethal taking pictures on Monday when the gunman allegedly focused the NFL workplaces and claimed he had CTE.
Shane Tamura, 27, who performed highschool soccer, killed 4 folks inside a Manhattan skyscraper earlier than he took his personal life.
In his pockets, there was a handwritten observe that claimed he suffered from persistent traumatic encephalopathy, often known as CTE. The slowly progressive mind illness can solely be recognized after somebody has died.
Tamura in his observe requested that his mind be studied for CTE.
“The BU CTE Center, of course, is willing to help with the investigation, if called upon,” a spokesperson for the middle wrote in an electronic mail to the Herald on Tuesday.
Tamura, who performed highschool soccer in California a decade in the past however by no means performed within the NFL, had a historical past of psychological sickness, police mentioned.
Within the three-page observe discovered on his physique, he accused the NFL of concealing the risks to gamers’ brains for revenue.
CTE researchers have discovered that the illness sometimes causes signs later in life — and that the extra soccer an individual performs (and extra head impacts), the upper they’re in danger for CTE.
“This is obviously incredibly tragic, and it’s unfortunate that he’s linking it to CTE,” Jesse Mez, co-director of medical analysis on the CTE Middle, advised the Herald.
This incident is extra possible tied to psychological well being, he added.
“When folks have underlying mental health issues and that’s combined with hitting their head, it’s a bad combination,” mentioned Mez, who’s additionally affiliate professor of neurology at Boston College Chobanian and Avedisian College of Medication.
There’s a higher concern for CTE if the person performs for greater than 5 years.
Some CTE signs embody aggression, issue controlling behaviors, melancholy, and reminiscence issues.
BU CTE Middle researchers in 2017 discovered that convicted assassin and former New England Patriots participant Aaron Hernandez, who was 27 when he took his personal life in jail, suffered from extreme CTE.
It was probably the most extreme case that the researchers had ever seen for somebody that younger.
“There have been cases of folks who were violent and had CTE in their brain,” Mez mentioned, however famous that the overwhelming majority of highschool gamers don’t endure from CTE.
Households donate their family members’ brains to the middle to assist with CTE analysis. The researchers are hoping they will work out find out how to diagnose CTE within the residing.
The NFL lengthy denied the hyperlink between soccer and CTE, however it acknowledged the connection in 2016 testimony earlier than Congress and has paid greater than $1.4 billion to retired gamers to settle concussion-related claims.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who works out of the NYC workplaces, referred to as the taking pictures “an unspeakable act of violence in our building,” saying he was deeply grateful to the legislation enforcement officers who responded and to the one who gave his life to guard others.
Goodell mentioned in a memo to employees {that a} league worker was severely injured within the assault and was hospitalized in steady situation.
Tamura, who labored safety on the Horseshoe Las Vegas, drove throughout the nation over the previous few days and into New York Metropolis simply earlier than the assault, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned.
Surveillance video confirmed Tamura getting out of a BMW early Monday night and strolling throughout a plaza in a button-down shirt and jacket with the rifle at his aspect earlier than he entered the constructing.
As soon as inside, he sprayed the foyer with gunfire, killing Didarul Islam, the off-duty police officer who was working a company safety element, and hitting a lady who tried to take cowl, Tisch mentioned. He then made his option to the elevator financial institution, taking pictures a guard at a safety desk and one other man within the foyer, she mentioned.
Tamura took an elevator to the Thirty third-floor workplaces of the corporate that owns the constructing, Rudin Administration, and shot and killed somebody there earlier than fatally taking pictures himself.
Supplies from the Related Press have been used on this report.
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