Month: July 2025

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that the gunman behind the deadly shooting inside an office building in Midtown Manhattan on Monday evening was apparently targeting NFL offices there. Adams has told the press it appears the shooter took the wrong elevator bank and instead reached the offices of Rudin Management, where he again opened fire after spraying bullets across the building’s lobby.

A New York City police officer and three civilians were killed after the gunman, Shane Devon Tamura, opened fire inside the high-rise corporate building in midtown Manhattan. The shooting was first reported at 6:30 p.m. at 345 Park Ave., which houses several major businesses, including Blackstone, KPMG and the NFL. The suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, per authorities.

The four victims were identified as: NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone real estate executive Wesley LePatner, Rudin employee Julia Hyman, and security officer Aland Etienne.

Mayor Adams said that Officer Islam joined the NYPD four years ago. He was a Bangladeshi immigrant assigned to a Bronx precinct, and was off-duty working a private security detail assignment at the time of the shooting. Islam is survived by his wife, who is eight months pregnant, and two young sons.  The NYPD said in a statement: “Police Officer Didarul Islam represented the very best of our department. He was protecting New Yorkers from danger when his life was tragically cut short today.”

32BJ SEIU President Manny Pastreich said of dedicated security officer Aland Etienne: “this tragedy speaks to the sacrifice of security officers who risk their lives every day to keep New Yorkers and our buildings safe. Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line. Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated. Aland Etienne is a New York hero. We will remember him as such.” Etienne’s partner of eight years, Rachel Paoli, is the mother of their son, who will turn 7 on Saturday.

Blackstone also shared in a statement about their employee LePatner: “Words cannot express the devastation we feel. Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed.  She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family. We are also saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims as well, including brave security personnel and NYPD.” 

Officials say that Tamura, a 27-year-old from Las Vegas, acted alone and “has a documented mental health history.” According to law enforcement, investigators recovered a three-page rambling note from the gunman’s wallet in which he referenced the brain disease CTE, which is caused by head trauma, as the possible cause of his mental illness. According to the sources, the note said he wanted to have his brain donated to science so it could studied for the disease. Tamura played high school football but did not play professionally, and police have not found any evidence that he suffered from CTE and has no known connection to the NFL. Police sources told ABC News that a page of the note alleged the National Football League had concealed the dangers football contact could cause to players’ brains to maximize earnings. Tamura had two Mental Health Crisis Holds on his record, and a prior arrest for trespassing in Nevada, where he also received his concealed carry license.

ESPN’s Jeff Darlington posted to X  that “NFL commissioner Roger Goodell informed league employees that ‘one of our employees was seriously injured in this attack. He is currently in the hospital and in stable condition” (which was also confirmed by CNN.)

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the late Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, says she is willing to testify before Congress on what she knows about the disgraced financier if she is granted a pardon. Epstein died in jail in 2019 by suicide.

A letter from Maxwell’s attorney David Markus on Tuesday to Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, pushed for her clemency so she can “testify openly and honestly” about Epstein. Comer issued a subpoena last week to secure Maxwell’s testimony through a deposition on Aug. 11 at a federal correctional facility in Tallahassee, Florida.

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges in 2021. Prosecutors said that from 1994 to 2004, Maxwell worked together with Epstein to identify girls, groom them, and then transport them to Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and other locations, where they were then sexually abused.

Markus said Maxwell would invoke her Fifth Amendment right and decline to testify unless the committee agreed to grant her immunity and interview her outside prison: “Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity. Nor is a prison setting conducive to eliciting truthful and complete testimony.”

Markus also asked the committee to provide questions in advance and postpone the interview until after the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to take up Maxwell’s appeal of her conviction: “Of course, in the alternative, if Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing—and eager—to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C. She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning.”

The letter comes after Maxwell and her lawyer met last week with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over two days last week. Maxwell answered questions for about nine hours over two days after being granted a limited form of immunity to secure her participation in that interview, according to NBC News. Blanche has not released any information about their conversation but says he will do so at the proper time. At the time, Maxwell’s attorney Markus said that they did not ask for a pardon and one was not offered. However, Markus said it is no secret Maxwell is seeking “relief” from her 20 year prison sentence.

On Monday, President Trump said that while no one had approached him about a pardon for Maxwell, he did have the power to grant one. However a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee ruled out the idea of granting Maxwell immunity: “The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”

Editorial credit: Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com