What is CTE? Explaining the disease referenced by New York gunman at NFL HQ building
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'The motive appeared to be connected to the shooter's belief that he was suffering from CTE and (a claim that) he was an ex-NFL player,' Adams said on CNN. 'Those items just don't pan out. He never played for the NFL.'
The shooter was identified as 27-year-old Shane Devin Tamura, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Tamura played high school football in California, according to MaxPreps, and appeared on the roster for Granada Hills Charter in 2015, but he never played professionally.
Let's examine what CTE is and its connection to football and the NFL.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease most commonly found in athletes, particularly those who participate in contact sports such as football. It has also been linked to others with a history of repetitive brain trauma, such as military veterans. One of the leading experts in developing the understanding of CTE is Dr. Ann McKee, a neurologist who is the director of the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and Boston University CTE Center.
'The most common neurodegeneration that we know about is Alzheimer's Disease,' McKee said. 'But CTE is similar. In the case of CTE, it's triggered by repetitive head trauma. We think that after sufficient amount of head trauma, this disease starts to develop in your brain and then becomes a progressive, widespread brain disease, as time goes on.'
CTE is defined neuropathologically. It's not possible to make the diagnosis while a person is still alive, meaning a definitive CTE diagnosis can only be made after a person has died and the brain is preserved.
According to the New York Times, Tamura's note included a request to 'Study my brain please. I'm sorry.'
While a definitive diagnosis can't be made while a person is still alive, there are signs that one may be suffering from CTE. Personality shifts and drastic changes in a person's behavior or mood are common symptoms.
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'There are things like aggression and violent behaviors,' McKee said in the video. 'Impulsivity, a short fuse. Another common set of symptoms is memory loss and difficulty planning and organizing and difficulty with attention.'
CTE is not a stagnant disease. The mildest form of CTE starts in one area of the brain, but the condition gets progressively worse as one ages, spreading to other parts of the nervous system.
According to a 2023 report by the Boston University CTE Center, 345 of 376 deceased former NFL players whose brains were studied by the program were diagnosed with CTE.
The first autopsy done on an NFL player that revealed CTE was in 2002, on former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster. Webster died of a heart attack on Sept. 24, 2002, at age 50, and was also diagnosed with CTE after his death.
In December 2009, former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died after falling out of the back of a moving truck. An autopsy revealed that the 26-year-old had CTE, the first instance of a player who had died while still active in the NFL being diagnosed with CTE.
Over the years, numerous players have been in the headlines for CTE diagnoses. Three years after completing his Hall of Fame career, linebacker Junior Seau died after shooting himself in the chest, and was later diagnosed with CTE. Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez died by suicide inside his prison cell after being found guilty of first-degree murder. Former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher was also diagnosed with CTE after he died in a murder-suicide, first killing his girlfriend and then driving to the Chiefs' facility and shooting himself.
The disease isn't only connected to those who played professionally. Another Boston University study of 152 young athletes who experienced repetitive head impacts and died under the age of 30 showed that 63 (41.4 percent) had evidence of CTE. Among those 63 with CTE, 49 of them played football and most of them didn't play above the high school or college level.
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Beginning in 2011, nearly 5,000 former players sued the NFL for head trauma they endured during their professional playing careers. The lawsuits alleged the NFL knew about the health risks for years, but withheld that information from its players. Eventually, a settlement was reached that promised to provide benefits to retired NFL players and their families, including baseline testing as well as an uncapped compensation fund for those suffering from conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or ALS.
Yet complaints have followed about how the NFL approves or denies player claims to the fund. According to a 2024 report by The Washington Post, the settlement had approved nearly 900 dementia cases since 2017 but denied nearly 1,100 others, including about 300 players who had been diagnosed by a network of doctors the league funded to evaluate players showing early signs of dementia.
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