Under New York State law, it is illegal, except under very limited circumstances, to possess the high-powered M4-style rifle that Shane Tamura allegedly used in a murder spree at a Midtown office building that claimed the lives of four innocent people on Monday, July 28.
Not so in the state of Nevada.
Nevada, where Tamura lived, does not prohibit the possession or ownership of high-powered M4-style weapons, similar to AR-15s, or require a state license or registration.
Nevada does allow open carry of high-powered weapons. Many New Yorkers were shocked by the video of Tamura crossing the plaza in front of 345 Park Ave. carrying a rifle. What he was doing was legal in Nevada, but not in New York.
This is crazy.
There is no legitimate reason why there is not a nationwide ban on assault-style weapons like the kind used by the shooter.
Mass shooting fatalities went down 70% during a nationwide ban between 1994 and 2004
Want to know what happened to the number of mass shooting fatalities after the ban expired? They went up 183%.
New York and other states that have similar gun-safety laws should not suffer from the irresponsibility of places like Nevada that don’t.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams referenced this when he noted at the press conference announcing the Midtown shootings that the city had confiscated 20,000 illegal guns that helped result in a 42% reduction in shootings and a 22% decrease in homicides since taking office in 2022.
“That’s 20,000 weapons that can no longer threaten the safety of our neighborhoods, our families, and our children,” Adams said.
Investigators are working to determine whether the sale of the AK-47 style gun to Tamara by his boss in Las Vegas for $1,400 was legal. NYDP officials said the boss, who purchased the gun legally, was cooperating with authorities and has not been charged.
Tamura obtained his weapon of war despite a history of mental illness.
Police records confirm he was placed on two involuntary mental health crisis holds in Las Vegas—in 2022 and 2024—requiring psychiatric evaluation at a hospital. NYPD said they found three prescription medications for Tamura, including an antipsychotic medication, at his home in Las Vegas.
Tamura, who shot and killed himself after his shooting spree, carried a three-page suicide note in which he asserted he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), blamed the NFL for concealing its risks, and asked investigators to study his brain posthumously. The NFL’s corporate offices are located at 345 Park Ave. He had been a high school football star.
Tamura traveled from Las Vegas to Manhattan, where he double-parked a BMW he had purchased from his boss outside the Park Avenue building.
In the lobby, he killed Didarul Islam, 36, an NYPD officer and father of two with a baby on the way who was working security in the building; Aland Etienne, 46, a security officer at the building; and Wesley LePatner, 43, an executive at the global investment management company Blackstone Inc., which has offices in the building.
Islam was an immigrant from Bangladesh and a 3 ½-year veteran of the NYPD who saw himself living the American dream. He purchased a home in the Bronx, where he lived with his wife, children, and parents, and was an active member of the Muslim community.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch promoted him to detective first grade at his funeral.
Islam was wearing his police uniform at the time of the shooting, but he was not equipped with a service weapon, typically a semi-automatic handgun or pistols. Even if he had been carrying a handgun, Islam would have been at a serious disadvantage facing a semi-automatic rifle.
Etienne, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting, was a Haitian immigrant, residing in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and a father of two. His young son’s 7th birthday was just days away at the time of his death.
He was known for his warmth and professionalism. Etienne worked two security jobs and was described by his union as dedicated and trusted—a true hero of New York City.
LePatner, a Yale graduate and mother of two, had climbed the corporate ladder, spending a decade at Goldman Sachs, where she was a managing director in the real estate investment group within the asset management division, before moving on to Blackstone where she served as the global head of core+ real estate and the chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust
LePatner was deeply involved in civic and cultural organizations. She served on the boards of the UJA-Federation of New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, and the Yale University Library Council. She was also a member of the advisory board of Governors of NAREIT.
She was remembered by colleagues as “brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond,” according to Blackstone.
After killing the three in the lobby, Tamura then allowed a woman exiting an elevator to leave unharmed, took the elevator to the 33rd floor, where he fatally shot Julia Hyman and then shot himself in the chest.
Hyman, 27, an associate at Rudin Management, which owns 345 Park Ave., was a 2020 Cornell University summa cum laude graduate. Originally from Manhattan, she excelled academically and athletically, captaining the lacrosse team at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx.
During the rampage, Hyman first sought shelter in a panic room inside a bathroom, which had a ballistic door and a hardwired phone. However, after a lull in gunfire, she stepped out—likely to check on safety—and was immediately shot by Tamura, who had mistakenly exited the elevator on the wrong floor.
Four people, each outstanding in their own way. Each with families and friends devastated by their loss. Each cut down in the prime of their lives by a mentally ill person armed with a weapon of war.
The four will long be remembered for the many ways they contributed to the life of New York.
We could further honor the four fallen New Yorkers by banning weapons of war everywhere.
