“Pure evil,” as Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry rightly described, came to New York Monday evening in the form of a deranged gunman behind a mass shooting at a Midtown office building that claimed four lives, including a police officer.
This gunman, Shane Tamura, had traveled by car close to 3,000 miles over recent days from Las Vegas to wreak havoc and death upon 350 Park Ave., which houses a number of businesses, including the NFL. Tamiea, who had a history of mental illness, believed he had suffered from CTE — a brain condition associated with football players that can only be diagnosed in a post-mortem examination — and seemed to have targeted his rage at the NFL before taking his own life.
Yet his personal pain cannot justify the acts of pure evil he committed Monday — which claimed the lives of young Police Officer Didarul Islam, who was working an off-duty security detail when he was gunned down; Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner; Rudin Management associate Julia Hyman; and security guard Aland Etienne.
These victims had families and friends who now mourn their sudden and horrific loss. On top of that loss, their coworkers endured the trauma of hearing the fired shots, seeing the bloodshed, and being locked down, then eventually led out of the building with their hands up — an image witnessed in countless other mass shootings in America this century.
Whatever pain the killer professed to have was inflicted exponentially on Monday upon an entire city. The horrific reality is that there was nothing the NYPD or anyone entrusted to protect the city from violent criminals could do to stop this deranged killer.
Law enforcement sources said Tamura, despite his mental health history, managed to have a concealed carry license in his home state of Nevada. He also managed to acquire the M4 military assault rifle — which is built to fire hundreds of ammunition rounds per minute.
New York has some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, but they could not stop a killer from Nevada, who got his weapons out of state, from coming here and committing murder. This tragedy, like so many others that have befallen our land, speaks once more to the urgent need for Congress and the President to do more than offer “thoughts and prayers” for the victims.
We need new gun regulations, and we needed them yesterday. We need a federal red flag law that will prevent people with severe mental health issues or serious criminal backgrounds from being able to obtain firearms.
Lawful gun owners, in poll after poll, agree with expanding background checks and other regulations to help keep firearms out of the wrong hands. It’s time we listen to them, and recognize that inaction in the face of mass death is another form of “pure evil” in our midst.
Call the President. Call your senators and Members of Congress. Call them now and tell them to act to prevent another tragedy like this from striking our city once more.
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