‘The sheer terror’: NYC gunman chased and fired at maid on 33rd floor before she was able to get away
The gunman who targeted a Midtown Manhattan office building chased a “beloved” maid and shot at her as she tried to escape, New York Police Department Chief John Chell revealed.
Shane Tamura, 27, opened fire in a Park Avenue skyscraper on Monday, killing four people. Tamura later died after turning the gun on himself. While in the building, Tamura chased and shot at a maid who managed to escape, Chell revealed to Fox News on Wednesday.
“When he gets to the top floor, he sees a maid who’s been there for years, beloved,” Chell said. “She’s just cleaning up, doing her job…He’s firing, chasing the maid. He’s firing AR-15 rounds at her.”
“The sheer terror,” Chell added. “Thank God she got away. Thank God, he made a right, she made a left.”
Tamura entered the skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue around 6:30 p.m. The building houses the offices for the NFL and several major financial companies, including Blackstone and KPMG.
Tamura killed three people on the ground floor, police say. They have been identified as off-duty NYPD officer Didarul Islam, a father and husband whose wife is eight months pregnant; Wesley LePatner, a mother, wife and Blackstone executive; and Aland Etienne, a father and security guard.
An NFL employee was also shot in the lobby, Chell said Wednesday. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to staff on Tuesday explaining that an employee was seriously injured in the attack, but is now in the hospital in stable condition, ESPN reports.
“We have casualties in the lobby: One of our own, Officer Islam,” Chell said. “We got a mom executive dead. We have a security guard who fought but lost his life. We have an NFL employee who was shot and tried to call his friends up in the NFL.”
Chell and Goodell did not name the employee. An NFL reporter for The Athletic, a sports publication run by The New York Times, identified him as Craig Clementi, a member of the company’s finance department.
After opening fire in the lobby, Tamura called the elevator. When it arrived, a woman came face-to-face with Tamura as she exited the elevator. Tamura allowed her “to walk past him unharmed,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
Tamura then took the elevator to the 33rd floor, which houses the offices of Rudin Management, the company that owns the building. There, Tamura killed Rudin Management employee Julia Hyman before turning the gun on himself.
Mayor Eric Adams revealed Tuesday that investigators believe Tamura took the wrong elevator. This came after police discovered he had a note in his pocket indicating he was “going after” NFL employees. Rudin Management’s offices are 28 floors above the NFL’s offices.
“From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters,” Adams told CBS News. “Instead, it took him to Rudin Management.”
Tamura’s note also claimed that he suffers from CTE, a brain disease that has been linked to head trauma endured by football players. The disease can only be definitively diagnosed after death.
“The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports,” Adams said. “He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.”
Chell described the scene as “horrible,” noting he’s grateful the shooter didn’t open fire half an hour earlier because there were “minimal people” inside the Rudin Management offices that late in the day.
“I got cops trying to negotiate calls coming in to people trapped, a shooter up on the 33rd floor, It was mayhem…an active shooter is not a normal event, and there’s so many different variables that are going on, and it’s not easy at any stretch of imagination,” Chell said.
