Man’s Troubled Past Revealed in Police Reports and Body Camera Footage Before Deadly Manhattan Shooting

The recent release of police records and body camera footage has cast light on the tumultuous journey that led a gunman from his home in Las Vegas to a Manhattan skyscraper where he took four lives last week before ending his own.

Documents from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reveal a history of lingering symptoms from a concussion and frequent run-ins with local authorities, including mental health-related incidents reported by the gunman’s mother and two stints in a psychiatric facility.

The perpetrator, Shane Devon Tamura, aged 27, entered 345 Park Avenue on July 28 armed with an AR-15 style rifle, carrying out Manhattan’s deadliest mass shooting in 25 years.

The newly disclosed details raise questions about whether Tamura’s mental health history could have impeded his ability to own a firearm, yet it remains unclear if his background would have activated Nevada’s red flag law.

Tamura held a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Nevada, potentially exempting him from additional background checks over the years, and experts suggest that obtaining mental health records can be challenging for law enforcement officers.

The following insights are derived from body camera footage, 911 calls, and police reports:

In September 2022, Tamura’s mother, filled with dread, dialed 911 from her car outside a Las Vegas motel. Inside, her then-24-year-old son was threatening self-harm. She was uncertain if he was armed but knew he owned a handgun and carried a backpack with a holster, she informed the dispatcher.

“I had just been inside the apartment with him, and he suddenly started crying and slamming things,” she said. Tamura expressed that he “just can’t take it anymore.”

Too terrified to leave yet equally afraid to stay because Tamura told her she was making things worse, the mother hid in her car, hoping he wouldn’t notice her.

Tamura grappled with depression, insomnia, migraines, and lingering symptoms from a concussion due to a sports injury, his mother reported.

Las Vegas police responded by filing an emergency petition for Tamura’s commitment to a mental health facility.

Post the New York shooting, investigators discovered a suicide note on Tamura in which he claimed to suffer from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease linked to head trauma, including concussions.

Tamura, a renowned high school football star, harbored resentment towards the NFL in his note and requested that his brain be examined for signs of CTE.

Two years after the first psychiatric commitment, in August 2024, police were summoned to Tamura’s apartment following another plea from his mother. She reported Tamura was crying and expressing suicidal thoughts, according to police logs.

“He was just crying and said, ‘I’m not going to be able to go any further,'” his mother told the dispatcher.

Tamura dealt with several behavioral issues, including bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression, the mother explained.

Upon an officer’s arrival at the apartment, medical responders who were already present stated that Tamura had been “calm and cooperative with us.”

At one point, Tamura pointed to a backpack he claimed contained a gun, and the officer advised him, “Don’t touch it – don’t go near it,” as depicted in the bodycam video.

Tamura was again committed to a mental health facility for treatment.

The exact nature of these psychiatric holds remains undisclosed, making it uncertain if they would have surfaced in background checks and barred Tamura from acquiring weapons, according to previous CNN reports.

“If you were on a 48-hour hold, if you were discharged at the end of that, it would not affect your ability to possess firearms under federal law,” Thomas Chittum, former associate deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, stated.

The weapon employed in the Manhattan shooting was legally procured last year by Tamura’s supervisor at the Vegas casino where he worked, as confirmed by two law enforcement officials. The supervisor later assembled it and sold it to Tamura for $1,400, according to these officials, citing an interview with the cooperative supervisor.

It remains ambiguous if a background check was involved in this transaction.

In September 2023, Tamura was charged with criminal trespass after being ejected from a Las Vegas casino for refusing to show identification when trying to exchange his chips for cash.

Security officials at the Red Rock Casino described Tamura as an “irate guest,” who refused to exhibit his ID as required to cash out and became agitated.

In a call to 911, casino security depicted Tamura as “making a spectacle of himself” and stated he seemed to be under the influence of something.

Minutes after casino security contacted the police, Tamura also contacted 911, accusing the casino of theft.

“They stole like $6,000 from me,” he told the operator. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

Police responded and apprehended Tamura from the casino in handcuffs, as shown in body camera footage.

He was charged with trespassing, yet a court database suggests that a district attorney declined to pursue the case.

In May 2024, Tamura was stopped for driving a vehicle without license plates, as recorded by body camera video.

Tamura presented his license and registration, but officers discovered that his license had been indefinitely suspended in 2023 due to numerous traffic violations. His insurance was valid, but his car’s registration had expired the month prior.

Tamura was issued a citation for operating an unregistered vehicle and driving without a valid driver’s license.

The day following the New York shooting, police executed a search warrant at Tamura’s Las Vegas apartment.

Investigators removed several items, including a rifle bipod, an empty Colt gun case, assorted 9mm ammunition, and a single rifle cartridge.

Officers also found a notebook containing what appeared to be a farewell note, multiple prescription bottles — some emptied, others filled with pills — with miscellaneous paperwork, and a vehicle title.