The tragic former NFL player Terry Long was named in a suicide note by Shane Tamura, the gunman targeting NFL headquarters when he opened fire on Monday evening at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
After killing four people, Tamura shot himself in the chest and died. He failed to reach NFL HQ after taking the wrong elevator, New York mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.
The 27-year-old was found with a note which blamed CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a brain condition caused by head trauma that is rife among former football players. Specifically, he said he blamed ex-NFL player Long for having the disease, which can only be officially diagnosed once someone has died.
‘Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,’ Tamura wrote, as per CNN. ‘You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you. Study my brain please I’m sorry. Tell Rick I’m sorry for everything.’
Long died when he was 45 in June 2005, commiting suicide by drinking antifreeze, a revised 2006 death certificate said – a coroner initially ruled that he died of meningitis.
Long was found unresponsive at his home and died in hospital and was later diagnosed with CTE.
Former NFL player Terry Long was named in New York gunman Shane Tamura’s sucide note
Long died at the age of 45, committing suicide after reportedly drinking antifreeze
Gunman Tamura, 27, named Long in his suicide note after opening fire in Manhattan
Long played for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a guard throughout his seven-year career, which ended in 1991.
That year, he was suspended for violating the NFL’s steroid policy and attempted suicide.
A report from the LA Times in 1991 says that in a statement to police, Long says he tried to kill himself by swallowing ‘two or three sleeping pills,’ contradicting earlier reports he had taken rat poison.
Long later checked into the psychiatric ward at Allegheny General Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
In the months before Long’s suicide, he was also facing legal issues.
In March of 2005, he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he fraudulently obtained loans for a chicken-processing plant whichprosecutors allege he burned to the ground in September 2003 for the insurance money.
He was arrested in late March that year and released on $10,000 bond.
Furthermore, he reportedly was struggling with personal issues too. At the time he died, Long’s neighbor said he was separated from his second wife and was depressed about that as well as the federal charges he faced.
Long had a history of mental heath struggles and was later diagnosed with CTE after his death
After his death, Lond was ruled to have sustained CTE. His name is among hundreds of former NFL players to have been diagnosed with the condition after their death.
Long was born in South Carolina and played at college level for the East Carolina Pirates from 1980 until 1983.
Tamura, meanwhile, was believed to have been an aspiring football player. He played football at his high school in California as a running back.
‘He came in, worked hard, kept his nose down,’ his former coach, Walter Roby, told NBC.
‘He was a quiet kid, well-mannered, very coachable. Whatever needed to be done, he would do. I’m just blown away right now.’
