Deadliest Mass Shooting in New York City Since 2000 Leaves 4 Dead and 1 Wounded

As evening rush hour began in New York City on Monday, a gunman calmly walked into a Park Avenue office building lobby and killed a police officer, then opened fire on innocent strangers within a minute. The day's violence would become the deadliest mass shooting in New York City since 2000, with the gunman shooting and killing four people and wounding another before taking his own life. The New York Police Department responded swiftly, deploying thousands of officers, specialized units, and advanced technology to search for the gunman.

Key Takeaways:

• The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura from Las Vegas, Nevada, arrived at the Park Avenue building in his black BMW two hours before the rampage began, and then double-parked outside the building before entering with an M4 semi-automatic rifle.
• Tamura shot and killed NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, 36, and three others, including Wesley LePatner, 43, and Aland Etienne, 46, before heading to the 33rd floor of the building, where he was seen by several employees.
• Witnesses reported that Tamura ignored a woman exiting an elevator car and entered instead, possibly because he thought it was a route to the NFL offices, where he was allegedly heading at the time of the shooting.
• Tamura was eventually tracked down to the 33rd floor, where he tried to break through glass walls and shot at employees, including Sebije Nelovic, who said she ran down the hallway and locked herself in a closet.
• The NYPD's electronic log system captured the horror in real-time, with notes showing the desperation of frightened callers and the chaos of the situation.
• The building's 33rd floor has bathrooms designed as safe rooms, equipped with bullet-proof doors and video feeds of the hallway outside, but highlighted the vulnerability of the employees who did not have time to seek shelter in these rooms.
• The gunman was identified after responding teams found his body on the 33rd floor, and the investigation revealed that he had fired most of two 30-round magazines of .223 ammunition in a matter of minutes.
• The NYPD has recovered 23 shell casings and over a dozen ricocheted bullet fragments in the lobby, and 24 shell casings and 15 bullet fragments on the 33rd floor, where they are tracing the gun and its serial number to determine its origin.

Statistics:

• 4 people were killed and 1 person was wounded in the shooting, making it the deadliest mass shooting in New York City since 2000.
• 23 shell casings and over a dozen ricocheted bullet fragments were recovered in the lobby.
• 24 shell casings and 15 bullet fragments were recovered on the 33rd floor of the building.
• The gunman fired most of two 30-round magazines of .223 ammunition in a matter of minutes.
• The building's 33rd floor has bathrooms designed as safe rooms, equipped with bullet-proof doors and video feeds of the hallway outside.

Sources:

• CNN
• New York Police Department
• New Jersey State Police
• Scott County Sheriff's Office
• Nebraska State Patrol
• Las Vegas Metro Police Crime Stoppers hotline
• Nevada DMV records
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives documents