Four dead, including NYPD officer, in New York skyscraper shooting
by Sheri Walsh · UPIJuly 28 (UPI) -- Four people were killed, including an NYPD officer, and another man was critically injured in a shooting Monday evening inside a New York City skyscraper, which houses the corporate offices of the National Football League and Blackstone.
The gunman was identified Monday night as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old from Las Vegas. Police said he stormed the Park Avenue skyscraper lobby just before 6:30 p.m. EDT, and opened fire, before barricading himself on the 33rd floor. Tamura was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to officers, who said he acted alone.
"The scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralized," announced NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The alleged shooter's body was found next to a Palmetto State Armory AR-15 assault rifle.
After the shooting, police released a photo of Tamura as he walked into the building, carrying a long gun in a crowded area just blocks from the Museum of Modern Art and Grand Central Station.
During a Monday night news conference, Tisch said Tamura "immediately opened fire on the NYPD officer" inside the lobby before shooting several other people and heading for the 33rd floor.
Police conducted several floor-by-floor searches of the 634-foot skyscraper to secure the building and release those who had sheltered in place.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he went to the scene and visited the injured in the hospital.
"I have been on the scene at the shooting in Midtown, and we can report the shooter is neutralized. The NYPD are now searching 345 Park Avenue carefully. If you are in the building, please stay where you are," Adams warned earlier in a post on X.
"People have been shot and injured," he said, "and I will soon be going to the hospital."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also announced it was on the scene of the shooting to support the NYPD as it leads the investigation.
"Motive is currently under investigation," Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino wrote earlier in a post on X.
NYPD officials and Adams updated reporters Monday night and released the identity of the officer killed.
"Five innocent people shot tonight. We lost four souls to another senseless act of gun violence, including a member of the New York City Police Department, Officer Islam," Adams said.
NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, 36, was a paid detail at the building, according to police. He was a three-and-a-half-year veteran of the department and leaves behind a wife, two young boys and a baby on the way.
"He is an immigrant from Bangladesh and he loved this city," Adams added. "He was a true blue New Yorker, not only in the uniform he wore but in his spirit and energy of loving this city."
Adams said he met with the officer's family Monday night to tell them "he was a hero and we admire him for putting his life on the line."
Three other civilians were also killed Monday.
"Two males and one female were killed and another male was seriously injured, fighting for his life in critical condition," Adams said. "Additionally, the shooter is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound."
Tisch then provided detailed movements of the gunman Monday, based on surveillance video, while cautioning that the investigation remains active.
"Surveillance video shows a male exit a double-parked black BMW on Park Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets, carrying an M-4 rifle in his right hand as he walks toward the building's entrance," Tisch said.
"The building's security camera footage shows the shooter enter the lobby, turn right and immediately open fire on an NYPD officer. He then shoots a woman who took cover behind a pillar and proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire."
The gunman also shot a security guard, according to Tisch, as he made his way toward the elevators. Another male was shot and injured in the lobby before the gunman got onto the elevator, while allowing a woman to exit unharmed.
According to the police commissioner, Tamura went up to the 33rd floor, where the offices of Rudin Management are located, and fired several rounds.
"One person was struck and killed on that floor," Tisch said. "He then proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest."
Tisch said officers found more guns, ammunition and medication during a search of Tamura's vehicle. Tamura drove cross-country Saturday through Monday, when he arrived in New York City in the late afternoon, Tisch said.
"Mr. Tamura has a documented mental health history. His motives are still under investigation and we are still trying to understand why he targeted this particular location," Tisch added.
"I want to extend my profound sympathies to all of the victims and their families and to the brave NYPD cops who today lost a brother."