BU CTE Center researcher Michael L. Alosco says, “We need to remember that the causes of these tragedies are never just one factor.” Photo via AP/Yuki Iwamura

CTE

NYC Gunman’s Note Referencing NFL Pleads for His Brain to Be Studied for CTE Link

Boston University’s renowned CTE Center offers its research expertise to authorities, while cautioning to be “careful about attributing this to one reason.”

The gunman who fatally shot four people in a New York City midtown office building Monday evening may have been targeting the headquarters of the National Football League, according to authorities. In a three-page note left at the scene, the shooter, who took his own life with a gunshot to the chest, reportedly referenced the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, pleading: “Study my brain please. I’m sorry.”

The gunman has been identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura, and multiple news reports have said he was a competitive high school football player. According to CNN, his three-page note also said, “Terry Long football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze. You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll squash you.”

According to some reports, the gunman specifically mentioned Boston University’s research on CTE in his note; the University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center is the world’s leading home for research into the disease. BU CTE Center researcher Michael L. Alosco says BU experts are ready to assist authorities.

“We need to remember that the causes of these tragedies are never just one factor. There are many different factors that come together to cause scenarios like this. We should be careful about attributing this to one reason. The connections between CTE, suicide, and violence are not well understood,” says Alosco, a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate professor of neurology. “The connection between high school football and CTE risk is also unclear. This tragedy does shine a light on mental illness. And mental illness, if caught and detected early, can be managed, and we encourage families and people to seek help.”

The shooting was the deadliest in New York City in the last 25 years.

Although much is still unknown about the shooter’s motivations and mental health status, BU research has shown strong links between the length of tackle football careers and the risk of developing CTE.

Scientists and clinicians at the CTE Center have studied the causes of the disease for years; the center is home to a repository of more than 1,500 brains donated by loved ones for research and in search of answers to symptoms their relatives suffered in life. Because of those donations, BU scientists have made breakthroughs in understanding the disease’s causes, how it progresses, and how it damages the brain; they are also getting closer to diagnosing CTE while a person is alive (right now, a diagnosis can only be made after death). CTE has been tied to a range of symptoms, including memory loss, confusion, aggression, and poor impulse control.

BU researchers have found CTE in nearly 92 percent of ex-NFL players they’ve studied, as well as in college players, hockey stars, soccer players, and Army veterans. Past prominent diagnoses made by BU researchers—including former New England Patriot and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez—have added to the urgency in being able to understand these brain injuries to bring treatment to people suffering.

The connection between football and CTE is also an issue that has caused intense friction within NFL circles, especially among retired players. New rules and helmets have been integrated into the professional league, but researchers argue that it’s not enough, especially if youth football leagues are playing by the old rules.

Here are some recent BU research findings that shed light on the link between contact sports and CTE, particularly among young athletes: 

• CTE risk doubles after three years playing football: For every year of absorbing the pounding and repeated head collisions that come with playing American tackle football, a person’s risk of developing CTE increases by 30 percent. And for every 2.6 years of play, the risk of developing CTE doubles. Reported in Annals of Neurology by a team of CTE Center researchers, these findings, from an analysis of the brains of 266 deceased former amateur and professional football players, were the first to quantify the strength of the link between playing tackle football and developing CTE.

• CTE found in nearly 92 percent of ex-NFL players studied: The CTE Center diagnosed 345 former NFL players with CTE, out of 376 former players who were studied, a rate of 91.7 percent. “There are real risks to playing football. It’s demonstrable in NFL players,” said Ann McKee, CTE Center director and a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor.

• Football at young age raises risk for brain decline later: A CTE Center study found repetitive blows to the head may also lead to less white matter in the brain, potentially causing impulsive behavior and other thinking-related problems—whether or not someone has CTE. The research, published in Brain Communications, showed those who start playing tackle football at an early age or play it for more than 11 years are at greater risk.

• Force of blows to the head raises risk of CTE: A collaborative study conducted by researchers at BU, Mass General Brigham, and Harvard Medical School—using brains donated to BU’s UNITE Brain Bank and published in Nature Communications—added a new wrinkle to the research around CTE. The study found that the clearest predictor of what could cause a person to suffer brain disease later in life was the cumulative force of thousands of hits to the head, and not just the sheer volume of concussions suffered. The study was the largest to examine root causes of CTE, which is associated with everything from memory loss to impulsive behavior to suicidal thoughts and depression.

• Athletes under 30 at risk of CTE: A CTE Center study suggested that it’s not just grizzled old pros who should be concerned about the degenerative brain disease. Researchers found that young, amateur athletes who play some of the most physical contact sports also seem to be at risk, despite their comparatively short, lower-profile playing careers. After examining the brains of 152 contact sport participants who had died under age 30, they discovered 41.4 percent had signs of CTE. More than 70 percent of those diagnosed were amateur athletes who’d played sports like football, ice hockey, soccer, rugby, and wrestling.

This story includes previous reporting from The Brink.