The US soccer league has beforehand confronted authorized challenges over its failure to deal with gamers’ concussions.
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams has stated {that a} gunman who killed five people, together with himself, sought out the headquarters of the Nationwide Soccer League (NFL), which he blamed for the mind accidents he suffered from.
Adams stated on Tuesday {that a} word carried by the shooter, recognized as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, suggests his goal was the NFL.
“The word alluded to that he felt he had CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], a identified mind harm for many who take part in contact sports activities,” Adams advised CBS Information. “He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his harm.”
However Tamura seems to have arrived on the unsuitable ground of a New York Metropolis workplace tower and as a substitute opened fireplace within the places of work of an actual property agency, on prime of taking pictures folks within the ground-floor foyer.
The NFL has beforehand confronted litigation relating to concussions suffered by soccer gamers.
The organisation, which oversees skilled US soccer, has denied any hyperlink between situations like CTE and its sport, nevertheless it has however paid out greater than $1bn to settle concussion-related lawsuits.
Monday’s taking pictures has additionally renewed debate about mass shootings and entry to firearms within the US. Tamura reportedly entered the constructing with an AR-15-style rifle.
The NFL’s headquarters are situated in a skyscraper that it shares with different corporations.
Tamara is believed to have began taking pictures as he entered the foyer of the skyscraper. Then, police consider he took the unsuitable elevator, arriving on the thirty third ground, which contained the places of work of Rudin Administration, an actual property agency.
There, he opened fireplace as soon as extra after which took his personal life.
Amongst these killed within the taking pictures was a 36-year-old police officer named Didarul Islam, who had come to the US from Bangladesh and had been on the pressure for 3 years.
Different victims embody safety guard Aland Etienne, Julia Hyman of Rudin Administration, and an govt on the BlackRock funding agency, Wesley LePatner.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged in a memo that there can be an “elevated safety presence” on the organisation’s places of work over the approaching weeks.
Tamura is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, with a historical past of psychological well being points. He by no means performed within the NFL, however he did play soccer in highschool.
The information outlet Bloomberg reported that Tamura’s word alleges that his soccer profession was minimize brief by a mind harm.
The word additionally known as for his mind to be studied. CTE can solely be recognized via an post-mortem.