NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN on Wednesday that the employee who was injured in the July 28 shooting at the league's office in New York City is "doing incredibly well" and that the organization is "working through it" as a group.
Goodell was appearing ESPN to promote the NFL's new deal with the network, but he began by giving an update on the employee.
“It's been a tough week for not just the NFL, but I think everybody at our Park Avenue offices," Goodell said. "Our other tenants each lost employees. It’s a sad thing for us to have to bear. But I think our group is pulling together, as they normally do. We’re a resilient group. Collectively, I think we're pulling together. The good news is our colleague is doing incredibly well, is going to be okay and we’re obviously comforted by that. It's hard to understand the unexplainable and the senselessness of it. But the pain is real for everybody and we're all working through it."
Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that finance department employee Craig Clementi was struck in the back by a bullet while calling other NFL employees to warn them about the shooting. Clementi reportedly continued to make calls while being transported to the hospital.
Shane Tamura, the suspected 27-year-old gunman, opened fire inside the high-rise at 345 Park Ave. building, killing four, including off-duty NYPD officer Didarul Islam, and leaving another in critical condition.
According to the NYPD, Tamura walked into the lobby of the building and immediately started the shooting spree. From the lobby, Tamura took an elevator to the 33rd floor, where he killed another person before taking his own life with a gunshot to the chest.
Police told ABC that Tamura left a note suggesting the NFL was his target. New York City Mayor Eric Adams later told reporters that the NFL was the target of Tamura's rampage and that he appeared to have mistakenly taken the wrong elevator to the 33rd floor, which houses offices of the building's owner Rudin Management Company.
Tamura reportedly left a three-page and note and wrote that he targeted the NFL because he believed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated head trauma that's commonly associated with football and other collision sports.
Tamura's note accused the NFL of concealing the dangers to players' brains from playing football in order to maximize profits, according to ABC. The note also included a request from Tamura to study his brain for CTE, which can be detected only via postmortem inspection.
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