A gunman carrying an assault-style rifle opened fire inside a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper on Monday evening, killing four people, including a New York Police Department officer before taking his own life in a devastating episode that has left the city reeling.
The attack unfolded at 345 Park Avenue, a towering office block home to global financial firms including Blackstone, KPMG, Deutsche Bank and the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL). The shooting took place around 6pm local time (22:00 GMT), plunging one of New York’s busiest districts into chaos and forcing a lockdown of surrounding streets and transit stations.
Read also: Shooting outside DC museum leaves two Israeli embassy staff dead
“This was a tragic and senseless act of violence,” said Jessica Tisch, New York Police Commissioner at a late-night news conference. “We are still piecing together the motive, but we believe the attacker acted alone.”
The gunman was identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, a Nevada resident with an address in Las Vegas. Surveillance footage shows Tamura arriving in a double-parked black BMW on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets. Exiting the vehicle with an M4-style rifle, he entered the building’s lobby and immediately opened fire.
Read also:Deadly shooting in Sweden school campus leaves 10 dead
Among the first to be shot was NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, 36, who was working as a security detail at the time. Islam, a Bangladeshi immigrant and father of two with a third child on the way, was hailed as a hero by city officials.
“He died protecting New Yorkers,” said mayor Eric Adams, who stood beside Tisch during the briefing. “Officer Islam moved this city forward with his life, and made the ultimate sacrifice in its defence.”
Islam had served with the NYPD for just over three years. According to Tisch, he was struck almost instantly as the shooter entered the building.
Tamura then fatally shot two more individuals on the ground floor: a woman who had taken cover behind a pillar and a security officer who was hiding behind a desk. A fourth victim — a man on the 33rd floor — was gunned down moments later after the attacker rode the elevator up. Authorities say a fifth victim is in critical but stable condition in hospital.
Read also: The Shooting of King’s College Old Boys (Foreword)
Police say Tamura spared at least one woman who stepped out of the elevator as he waited to go up. On the 33rd floor, after shooting one more person, he reportedly turned the rifle on himself and died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
Inside the suspect’s vehicle, officers discovered multiple loaded magazines and a revolver. Tamura was a registered gun owner in Nevada and, according to police, had documented mental health issues.
Investigators are still working to establish his motive and why he targeted this particular location.
The skyscraper sits just blocks south of Central Park and near Rockefeller Centre — a high-density area typically thronged with office workers, tourists and commuters. The incident prompted a swift and massive emergency response, with roads cordoned off and police advising nearby buildings to shelter in place.
“I saw at least a dozen police cars and a man being carried on a stretcher,” said one BBC journalist who was at the scene. “The area went silent except for sirens.”
In recent years, New York has seen sporadic episodes of gun violence, though rarely at such a scale inside the city’s high-security corporate towers. Monday’s attack is one of the deadliest mass shootings in Manhattan in over a decade.
Read also: Chinese Chamber denies involvement in immigration officer shooting in Minna
National conversation is once again shifting to questions about gun access, mental health oversight, and building security — particularly in high-profile commercial districts. Authorities have not said whether Tamura had any links to the businesses housed in the building.
The NYPD said further updates will be shared as investigations continue. For now, the focus remains on supporting the victims’ families and understanding what drove a cross-country shooter to bring carnage to the heart of America’s largest city.
“Our hearts are broken,” Tisch said. “But our resolve is unshaken.”
