The man who opened fire on the 33rd floor of a skyscraper in New York on Monday evening wanted to attack the NFL headquarters. But he took the wrong elevator and ended up on the wrong floor, says Mayor Eric Adams.
The headquarters of the American football league NFL is located in the skyscraper on Park Avenue, in the middle of the Manhattan district of New York. The 27-year-old shooter was on his way to the floor where the NFL is located, but took the wrong elevator and ended up on the 33rd floor.
The real estate company Rudin Management is located on that floor. Upon entering, the shooter opened fire on present employees and killed four people, including a 36-year-old police officer. The other fatal victims were two men and a woman.
A fifth person was seriously injured and “is currently fighting for his life,” says Mayor Adams. An NFL employee was injured, but is in stable condition in the hospital, reports The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper also writes that there will be extra security at NFL offices in the coming days.
Adams says that the man, who also shot himself, carried a suicide note. It showed that he was indeed targeting the NFL office. “The letter stated that he had CTE. That is a well-known brain condition in people who practice contact sports,” Adams told CBS News.
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Agents run to building in New York where shooting took place
Shooter was not an NFL player himself
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is a serious condition for which there is no treatment. It is often linked to aggressive behavior and dementia. NFL has previously settled for 1 billion dollars (approximately 870 million euros) in a series of lawsuits in which brain damage was linked to the death of NFL players.
The shooter was never an NFL player himself, although he did play American football in high school. According to Bloomberg News, he said that his American football career was short-lived due to the brain damage he sustained.