In the aftermath of Monday’s fatal shooting at a Manhattan office building, investigating authorities have focused on a note left by the gunman, Shane Tamura. The letter, which the New York Police Department has described as a suicide note, referenced the NFL and the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Also in the letter was a mention of Terry Long, a former NFL player who died by suicide in 2005 after drinking antifreeze. “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,” the shooter wrote in the note, according to a CNN report.
Tamura’s connection to Long is unclear. Tamura was a standout high school running back who does not appear to have played beyond that level. Authorities believe he was targeting the NFL, whose league offices are housed in the building where the shooting occurred. Conversely, Long played eight years in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Who was Terry Long?
A fourth-round draft pick by the Steelers in 1984, Long became the team’s starting right guard in his rookie season and remained a fixture up front through the rest of the decade, when Pittsburgh’s offensive lines regularly ranked among the NFL’s best at protecting its quarterback. Long was short at 5-foot-11, but strong, having dabbled as a powerlifter.
In July 1991, weeks ahead of his final NFL season, Long faced a suspension for violating the league’s steroids policy. He subsequently attempted suicide by taking sleeping pills, then swallowing rat poison. He remained hospitalized for a week following the incident and underwent counseling. That season, he started three games at left guard. He was suspended four games after losing his appeal following the steroid violation and missed more time after tearing the triceps muscle in his right arm. After Bill Cowher succeeded Chuck Noll as coach of the Steelers in 1992, the team did not re-sign Long.
In 2003, a fire damaged Long’s chicken processing plant in Pittsburgh. In 2005, Long was indicted on federal fraud and arson charges and filed for bankruptcy for Terry Long Enterprises on the same day. Prosecutors argued he defrauded the state of nearly $1.2 million in business loans for the plant, which they claimed he set ablaze for the insurance money.
Three months after the indictment, in June 2005, Long died in a hospital after he was found unresponsive in his suburban Pittsburgh home. He was 45.
“I’m stunned and sick,” former teammate Craig Wolfley told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following Long’s death. “Lots of great memories of him. He was just a great guy. A very hard worker.”
The Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) coroner’s office first ruled Long died of meningitis, but a revised death certificate filed one month later listed the manner of Long’s death as suicide from drinking antifreeze. The coroner’s office changed its ruling after outside laboratory tests showed Long’s tissue and urine contained ethylene glycol, the active ingredient in antifreeze. The medical examiner’s office said Long’s football-related brain injuries, including CTE, were a contributing factor to his death but said he did not die as a direct result of them, according to a 2006 report by the Associated Press.
In his note, Tamura claimed “football gave me CTE,” according to police. CTE is a degenerative brain disease that is caused by repetitive hits to the head and has been associated with contact sports, such as football and boxing.
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