A gunman went on a deadly rampage inside a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper on Monday evening. Officials have since identified him as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura from Las Vegas. The lone suspected shooter opened fatal gunfire inside the NYC high-rise establishment, also nicknamed the ‘Blackstone building,’ houses the NFL headquarters. His unprecedented and deranged fury claimed the lives of five people, including an NYPD officer, before he took his own life, as revealed by Mayor Eric Adams in a news conference.

Midtown Manhattan’s 345 Park Ave, which became the target of the shocking US tragedy this week, also hosts Bank of America, Rudin Management and offices tied to KPMG. However, the presence of the National Football League’s headquarters has especially caught the attention of the Internet. Soon after law enforcement authorities revealed the suspected shooter’s identity, social media lit up with photos of Shane Tamura.

NYC shooting suspect Shane Tamura’s football past explored

Many then went on to dig up more information on the 27-year-old Las Vegas, and were ultimately hit with the realisation that he shared a much closer connection to football than expected. A nearly decade-old video interview titled “Granada hill football” on YouTube consumed tweet pouring in on the social media platform X. In the said clip, a then-young athlete, presumed to be Tamura, is seen wearing the athletic football gear.

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The 9-year-old video published by DailyNews PrepSports catches “standout running back Shane Tamura from the Granada Hills football team” on camera. In the caption, the outlet introduces the then-athlete as “Shane tamura (golden valley transfer).” Even Sport Illustrated introduced him as a former “standout prep football player at Golden Valley and Granada Hills Charter High Schools.” The latter is a Los Angeles Unified School District school in the heart of the San Fernando Valley.

In the fall of 2015, which is when Tamura’s interview was published, the former football player was a senior. The sports outlet goes on to foreground that Tamura played in nine games during his senior year, racing for 616 yards on 126 carries and five touchdowns. The now-resurfaced interview clip catches Los Angeles Daily News’ Jack Pollon interacting with the young football player at the time after is team scored a 35-31 victory over Kennedy High School.

Although Tamura presumably never made it to the professional football league, before coming to Granada Hill, he reportedly played as a junior at Golden Valley High School. Sports Illustrated further shed light on he rushed 774 yards on 139 carries and 11 touchdowns at the time. “He amassed 100-plus yards three times as a junior in 2014,” the outlet wrote.

Some reports being widely circulated on X also suggest that Shane D Tamura won six awards in high school playing football. A post added, he “reportedly played football in Canada.” Financial Express couldn’t individually verify these claims.

‘Failed’ NFL career motivated Shane Tamura?

A formal motive behind Tamura’s attack on the ‘Blackstone building’ has yet to be determined. Nevertheless, internet sleuths have already got their thinking cap on and are speculating whether the former athlete’s failed sports career pushed him to the brink, spurring him to open fire in a building that famously hosts the NFL HQ.

In the aftermath of Monday’s shooting, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica S Tisch said the 27-year-old suspect “has a documented mental health history.”

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“His motives are still under investigation and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location,” she added. “345 Park Avenue is a commercial office building whose tenants include the NFL, Rudin Management, KPMG and Blackstone.”

After Tamura’s deadly attack, he was found dead on the 33rd floor of the building. The cause of death has so far been declared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It remains unclear which office is on that particular floor of the NYC skyscraper. Subsequent reports pouring in on the platform also suggested that investigators are now examining whether the suspected gunman had specific plans to target NFL offices in the building.

Netizens react to Shane Tamura’s reported football past

“CASE SOLVED… Shane Tamura didn’t make it into the NFL and that is why he attacked the Blackstone building! aka headquarter of the NFL,” speculated an X user.

Someone else wrote, “I think the shooter was targeting the NFL Headquarters There’s a Shane Tamura with a profile on HUDL who posted videos of his high school football highlights at a CA school. The shooter previously live in CA. Was his dream to be an NFL player and was turned down?”

A third person fumed, “The Manhattan shooter was identified as Shane Tamura who was a running back for the Canadian Football Association and was most likely there for the NFL because of failure to make it it on a team. He killed numerous people including a NYPD officer!”

“Was it just after his hopes of playing NFL football failed,” tweeted yet another user.

“My suspicion is the NYC mass shooter, Shane Devon Tamura, was disgruntled and enraged with the NFL — either because he had lost money gambling or because he was rejected from being a professional football player and had become delusional,” wrote a fifth user.