Manhattan Suspect is Second Recent Shooter IDed as Las Vegas Casino Employee

  • Shane Tamura of Las Vegas was identified as the shooter who killed four people in a Manhattan office building on Monday before killing himself
  • The motive behind the shootings remains under investigation
  • On Tuesday, officials from Horseshoe Las Vegas confirmed that Tamura worked in their casino surveillance department 

Shane Tamura, whose shooting rampage in a Manhattan office building left five dead on Monday, is the second high-profile shooter in the past three months who was employed by a Las Vegas casino.

Shane Tamura, shown in a social media photo, killed four people and injured five others on Monday in New York.  (Image obtained by Scott Roeben/Vital Vegas)

On Tuesday morning, officials from Horseshoe Las Vegas identified the 27-year-old Las Vegas resident as an employee in its casino surveillance department.

Tamura was identified by police as the gunman in the July 28 shooting at 345 Park Ave., a Manhattan office building housing the headquarters of the NFL, the Blackstone Group investment firm, and Rudin Management Company. Tamura killed four people and injured five others before turning his gun on himself.

Shane Tamura is shown in security footage walking into 345 Park Ave. with an AR-15. (Image: NYPD)

Only two of the dead have been identified so far. They are Didarul Islam, a 36-year-old NYPD officer working security for the building, and Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner.

According to New York Mayor Eric Adams, Tamura targeted the NFL but went to the wrong offices. In a note found on his body, Adams told CBS News, Tamura blamed the football league for developing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition he claims was caused by head injuries he suffered while playing high-school football.

The ID found on Tamura’s body included a concealed carry permit issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) good until 2027 — even though New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated that he had a “documented mental health history.”

If a Nevada concealed carry applicant’s mental health history doesn’t include obvious disqualifiers such as hospitalizations or court rulings, the application can still be approved.

An uncropped version of the same social media photo shows Tamura wearing a Paris Las Vegas jacket. (Image obtained by Scott Roeben/Vital Vegas)

Concealed carry permits apply only to handguns, not to assault rifles like the AR-15 used to commit Monday’s heinous crime. Those are only legal to open carry in Nevada — though obviously not in New York, to which Tamura drove his black BMW from Las Vegas over the weekend.

Sin City Secrets

Tamura isn’t the first Las Vegas casino employee to recently go on a shooting spree.

On May 16, 34-year-old Daniel Ortega opened fire inside a crowded Las Vegas gym. He killed Edgar Quinonez, a 31-year-old employee of the Las Vegas Athletic Club, and injured three others with an Olympic Arms PCR-223 semi-automatic rifle, before police shot and killed him.

Ortega was reported to be “a bellman at a Las Vegas Strip property.” KLAS-TV/Las Vegas, which broke that detail, attributed it to unnamed sources that did not name the casino.

On Monday night, Casino.org’s own Vital Vegas blog shared a photograph of Tamura in which he wore a Paris Las Vegas windbreaker.

Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers entertainment, dining and gaming news in Las Vegas.

Corey spent six years covering the Vegas Strip for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he also wrote the most popular humor column in the city’s history. (For “Fear and Loafing,” he tried out 176 Vegas jobs, including poker player, blackjack dealer and Follie Bergere dancer.)

Corey has won more than 100 local, state and national awards for his journalism, which has also appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and the New York Post.

Corey is a New York native whose hobbies include playing guitar, trying to be a better husband, and arguing with strangers on Facebook.

Contact Corey at corey@casino.org.

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