What NYC shooting means for Australian contact sport's future
The horrific New York City shooting has sparked concerns about the ramifications in Australia, particularly across some of the country's most prolific sporting codes.
Details emerging after gunmen Shane Devon Tamura killed four people in an NYC office, before turning the gun on himself, revealed his likely intended target was the offices of the National Football League.
The NFL's offices were in the same building but weren't accessible through the elevator Tamura mistakenly used.
A note left by the shooter revealed he blamed playing American football (which he played in his youth) for his supposed struggle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurological disease plaguing many Australian athletes in contact sports.
'Football gave me CTE and it cause me to drink a gallon of antifreeze. You can't go against the NFL. They'll squash you,' Tamura wrote in a in a three-page note found in his wallet.
'Please study brain for CTE. I'm sorry. The league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximise profits.
'They failed us.'
This image from surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press shows Shane Tamura outside a Manhattan office building on Monday, July 28, 2025 in New York. Photo: AP Photo.
After his shooting spree, Tamura shot himself in the chest, suspected to be in a bid to avoid his brain in hopes of it being studied.
Despite suspecting he had CTE, the condition can only be diagnosed definitively after death. The brain disorder is a form of dementia and occurs typically from repeated concussions and head trauma during a sporting career.
Fans of Australian sport will be all too familiar with CTE and the long term impact of athlete concussion, including suicide.
Rugby league great and premiership winning coach Paul Green tragically took his own life in 2022, a post mortem analysis revealing he had a severe form of CTE.
Across codes, AFL legends Danny Frawley and Shane Tuck had the same diagnosis after their suicides in 2019 and 2020.
Tamura played football in high school and in his suicide note blamed the NFL for his suspected CTE condition. Photo: Las Vegas Dept. Motor Vehicle via AP.
The NRL community lost former player and coach Paul Green after he committed suicide, with a post-mortem later revealing he had suffered from CTE. Photo:.
With the sports bringing in new measures in recent years in hopes of stamping out blunt contact to the head, there are major concerns about the impact of the disease on players given it cannot be diagnosed until it is too late.
While yet to be diagnosed, the NYC shooters claims of CTE paint a scary portrait for an affliction Australia's sport is starting to learn much more about.
Sports Medicine Australia CEO Jamie Crain warned a lack of understanding around the risks of concussion in professional and community sport in Australia could pose serious long term health issues if not managed properly.
But the expert believes this country 'does quite well' dealing with minimising concussion, but after the events in the US, admits people will be on alert to CTE and the possible effects.
The priority instead of trying to completely eradicate concussions should be to manage them when they happen.
'Because it will happen, it's just an inherent part of contact sport, certainly with football and rugby and those types of sports,' he said.
Danny Frawley took his own life in 2019, after which it was determined he suffered from CTE. Photo: Supplied.
Richmond player Shane Tuck suffered from the same condition before suicide in 2020. Photo:.
While Crain believes rules may need to be tweaked, the challenge is striking a balance, not becoming so alarmed that parents take their kids out of playing contact sport, as that poses its own issues.
'We might then indirectly encourage a sedentary lifestyle and that brings itself a lot of potential long term health issues.
'There could inevitably be some rule changes that do need to take place within those particular sports to minimise the risk. I think that we won't be able to eradicate it.
'But we do need to manage it and then when concussion does happen, we look after those players in the best possible way.'
Originally published as Chilling warning for Australia in wake of New York City bloodbath
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Tesla ordered to pay $US242 million in Autopilot death
A Florida jury on Friday ordered Tesla to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to plaintiffs who blamed a deadly 2019 crash on the company's 'Autopilot' driver assistance technology. The jury found Tesla's system partly responsible for a crash in Key Largo that killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, according to attorney Darren Jeffrey Rousso, a partner at the law firm that represented Angulo and Leon's family. The plaintiffs had alleged that Autopilot was to blame when driver George McGee's Tesla careened into a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, killing Leon and injuring Angulo. The jury awarded $US200 million ($309 million) in punitive damages, plus $US59 million ($91 million) in compensatory damages to Leon's family and $US70 million ($108 million) in damages to Angulo, according to court records. Since the jury assigned one-third of the blame to Tesla, the compensatory damages will be reduced, Rousso said, with the total impact of the jury award totalling $US242 million ($374 million) after these reductions. 'Justice was done,' Mr Rousso said. 'The jury heard all the evidence and came up with a fair and just verdict on behalf of our clients.' Tesla will appeal the decision, according to its defense attorneys. 'Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeapordise Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement lifesaving technology,' Tesla said through its legal team. 'The evidence has always shown that this driver was solely at fault because he was speeding, with his foot on the accelerator — which overrode Autopilot — as he rummaged for his dropped phone without his eyes on the road. 'To be clear, no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash. This was never about Autopilot.'
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Australian Defence Force rolling out variant of handgun with history of accidental discharge allegations
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is standing by its newly issued handgun despite a major command of the US military ordering an indefinite "pause" of the use of a similar weapon. The US Air Force Global Strike Command ordered the M18 service pistol not be used until further notice after Airman Brayden Lovan died when his M18 unexpectedly fired on July 20, while he was on duty at a base in Wyoming. The M18, and the ADF's new handgun, the F9 Sidearm Weapon System (SWS), are both based on a model of pistol known as the Sig Sauer P320. "For the Australian Defense Forces, the SIG Special Weapons Group utilized a P320 variant similar to the U.S. Military's M18," Sig Sauer's website reads. The discharge involving the airman is now the subject of a comprehensive US Air Force investigation. "Our information is that the gun fired without the airman's hand or finger touching the trigger," said Robert Zimmerman, a lawyer who told ABC NEWS Verify his firm had been retained by the airman's mother. A spokesman for the ADF said it was aware of an ongoing investigation into an incident with a US model M18 pistol. It said the ADF's in-service F9 pistol system was different to the M18, without providing more detail. It did not respond to several other questions, including a further enquiry seeking an explanation on how exactly the F9 differed. Sig Sauer has for years been plagued by allegations, and lawsuits, claiming its P320 can fire without its trigger being pulled. The company vehemently denies this is possible, saying: "The P320 cannot, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull. "This is verified through extensive testing by Sig Sauer, the U.S. Military, elite law enforcement agencies, and independent laboratories," it says on its "P320 Truth" website. Bill Lewinski is the founding partner of Force Science and an expert on accidental shootings. He has previously told the Washington Post that "the number and frequency of injuries are strongly suggestive of a design flaw versus a human performance error. What we're seeing is highly unusual". Mr Lewinski told ABC NEWS Verify that he stood by the statement. "Further — without a clear understanding of the reason for the problem or any subsequent effort at remediation, some of our local to national departments are in full retreat in the use of the P320," he said. The firearm is what is known as "striker-fired". The striker, like a "firing pin" in a rifle, is the object that impacts the primer in a cartridge, firing a bullet. In the P320, and its variants, the striker is at all times held back by spring tension — meaning when the trigger is pulled, the striker simply moves forward. The firearm contains internal safety systems that are designed to prevent the firearm from discharging without the trigger being pulled. Mr Zimmerman said his firm represented more than 100 individuals and family members of people who had been injured or killed by P320 variants. "We believe this is the most dangerous pistol available on the market for users and those around the gun," he told ABC NEWS Verify. "We are aware of well over 350 incidents of unintended discharges in total," he said. Mr Zimmerman said his law firm had been retained by the mother of the airman killed on July 20. He said he understood the 21-year-old's gun fired while still in its holster, after it was placed on a table. "I believe it was prudent for the division of the US Air Force to halt its use of the P320 variant at this time, and we and our clients are calling for others to follow suit," he said. Unlike some variants of the P320, the F9 and the M18 used by the US Air Force feature an external manual safety, designed to prohibit the trigger function of the firearm. Jeffrey Webb is a master gunsmith from US gun store Grey Wolf Armory. He is a long-term critic of the P320, and in 2022, he wrote an analysis as an expert witness for a case against Sig Sauer. "This author has firsthand accounts of a sample M17 pistol [the US Army's less-compact P320 variant] finding the manual thumb safety disengaged while still in its holster through normal body movement," the analysis read. "The existence of, and voluntary use of, a manual thumb safety on this model firearm does not appear to fully mitigate that the firearm could discharge a round un-commanded by the user. "The basic fact is that a single-action, striker-fired pistol with no inertia safety on the trigger (the two-stage trigger like on a Glock) is an unsafe design at its core," Mr Webb told ABC NEWS Verify. "My advice, such as it is, to your military regarding adopting a P320 variant, is one word: DON'T," he said in an email, with capitals added. The US Air Force Global Strike Command told ABC NEWS Verify it was currently conducting what it called "100 per cent inspections" of all M18 handguns "to identify any immediate safety concerns". Sig Sauer addressed the US Air Force incident in a July 24 statement posted online. "We proactively offered assistance to the U.S. Military as they investigate the incident and remain willing to help in furtherance of their ongoing inquiry," it said. "We have absolute confidence in the Military's ability to conduct a thorough investigation and are working with the Air Force and Army to answer any of their questions." In 2022, the ADF released a statement that said the federal government had signed a multi-million-dollar agreement "to start acquiring and supplying the next generation of small arms for the Australian Defence Force". It revealed the ADF's new service pistol would be the Sig Sauer P320 XCarry Pro, which would be fitted with a sight and a torch. The gun would replace the Browning Mk3 pistol, which had entered service in Australia in 1964. The next year, in 2023, an eight-month-long investigation by the Washington Post and The Trace, a not-for-profit gun-related news outlet, revealed allegations from more than 100 people that their P320 pistols had discharged when they did not pull the trigger, with dozens injured. Sig Sauer disputed the claims in the story. It addresses allegations of unintended discharges on its "P320 Truth" website. "Verified incidents of unintended discharges are all attributed to improper handling, incompatible equipment (i.e. holsters), trigger access vulnerability, or a lapse in firearm safety, not to any defect in the P320," it reads. The ADF designated its new pistol the F9, and its rollout began in 2024. For a time, Sig Sauer sold an "AUSTRALIA M.O.D" model of the P320 as part of a program that sells "contract overrun firearms from militaries around the world". The company's online advertising for the pistol also references Australia. "In the scorching heat of the outback, the P320 is taking the Australian Defence Forces into the 21st century," it states. The incident involving Airman Lovan and the M18 has reignited online discussion about the safety of the P320, and its variants, on social media and gun forums. One video has attracted more than 800,000 views on YouTube alone — showing a man claiming to put a millimetre of pressure on his P320's trigger with a screw. He then plays with the gun's slide, causing it to fire. He repeats it four more times. "If you have any debris, sand, carbon build-up, that's preventing the trigger from being fully disengaged… You basically have a hand grenade," one repost on X read, sharing part of the video. ABC NEWS Verify asked Sig Sauer about the video, but did not receive a response by publication. The company's media representatives did not respond to any questions put to it. The company posted a statement on its social media channels in early March captioned: "The P320. It ends today". "The P320 CANNOT, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull — that is a fact. The allegations against the P320 are nothing more than individuals seeking to profit or avoid personal responsibility," the post said. "Furthermore, lawsuits claiming that the P320 is capable of firing without the trigger being pulled have been dismissed in courtrooms around the country," it said. Sig Sauer has been successful in having several cases dismissed. But Mr Zimmerman said that was not the case for all. "A gun should not be capable of firing when it is holstered and when the user is not touching the trigger," he told ABC NEWS Verify. "The only two cases our firm has taken to verdict have resulted in findings for the Plaintiff and against Sig, where juries have found that Sig was negligent (and in one of the two cases, reckless) and that the P320's design is defective," he said.
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Maxwell moved to ‘cushy' new prison
Notorious sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has quietly been moved to a cushy prison camp known as a 'Club Fed' as she tries to hash out a deal to divulge her sordid secrets about late pedophile ex Jeffrey Epstein. The 63-year-old convicted child sex trafficker was transferred from a lockup in Florida to the minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed to The New York Post on Friday. No reason was given for the move, but it comes days after she met Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche twice while trying to seek immunity and a deal to spill her secrets about Epstein. The notorious madam — who is serving 20 years for helping Epstein groom and abuse underage girls — is now in a prison for nonviolent inmates who are allowed to roam the grounds with 'limited or no perimeter fencing,' according to the BOP's website. She will be neighbours with well-known white-collar criminals, including Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced fraudster convicted of ripping off investors in her now-defunct blood-testing company Theranos, as well as Real Housewives of Salt Lake star and convicted scammer Jen Shah. 'It's one of the best prisons for anyone to go to,' Josh Lepird, regional vice president for the prison officers' union that includes Maxwell's new camp, told the Houston Chronicle on Friday. 'When you hear people say 'Club Fed,' they're talking about places like FPC Bryan.' Maxwell is supposed to be locked up until 2037. Yet inmates 'typically only go to a camp if you have just a couple years left,' Lepird told the outlet. 'But if someone is a co-operating witness, they can request a lower security level.' Her unexpected move from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee was handled directly by BOP officials, rather than US Marshals, according to the New York Sun, which said it included a 'brief stopover' in FCI Oakdale in Louisiana. No reason was given for the unexpected move. Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, also declined to elaborate, saying, 'We can confirm that she was moved but we have no comment.' However, the sudden transfer comes a week after Blanche — the DOJ's second-in-command and formerly President Trump's defence lawyer — huddled with the disgraced British socialite and her lawyer at the US Attorney's Office in Tallahassee. It's unclear what Maxwell and Blanche discussed at the meeting — or whether anything the convicted predator says would be considered credible — but her lawyer stressed afterwards that she 'honestly' answered Blanche's questions. The DOJ in 2022 expressed doubts that Maxwell could be truthful, accusing her in court papers of a 'significant pattern of dishonest conduct' and failing to take responsibility for her heinous crimes. A Manhattan jury convicted Maxwell in 2021 on sex trafficking charges for serving as Epstein's right-hand woman — a 'sophisticated predator' that lured girls into the dead financier's orbit from at least 1994 to 2004, prosecutors noted. Four women testified at the convicted sex fiend's trial about Maxwell courting them and trafficking them to Epstein to be sexually abused. However, Maxwell's lawyers claimed she was made a scapegoat for Epstein's twisted schemes after Epstein died in a Manhattan federal jail in 2019 while awaiting his own trial. The Trump White House has faced renewed pressure in recent weeks to release more information about the government's probe into Epstein. US Attorney-General Pam Bondi vowed earlier this year to release a cache of Epstein files, which could include juicy information on what the feds seized from the financier's mansions. But she later backtracked, saying that no further disclosures would be warranted. Justice Department officials are currently lobbying two New York federal judges to release grand jury testimony from investigations into both Maxwell and Epstein. But such information would only include the accounts of two law enforcement witnesses, the feds disclosed this week. Such a disclosure, if the judges sign off, would only amount to a fraction of the 300 gigabytes of Epstein-related material that DOJ and FBI officials have said they have in their possession. Maxwell has also offered to testify to a congressional committee about Epstein, but only if granted immunity for what she says. President Trump has the power to pardon Maxwell or to release her from prison by commuting her sentence. When asked earlier this week about the possibility, he didn't rule out doing so, but insisted that he had not been approached directly with a request to pardon her.
