Aland Etienne, a 46-year-old security guard working at 345 Park Avenue, has been identified as one of the four victims killed in Monday’s mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan.
Etienne was stationed in the lobby when the shooter, identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura of Las Vegas, entered the building with an M4 rifle and opened fire before taking his own life.
“Aland Etienne is a New York hero. We will remember him as such,” said Manny Pastreich, president of the 32BJ SEIU union, which represents security officers across the city. “Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line. Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated.”
Etienne is being honored for his service and bravery as investigators continue to piece together what led to the tragic events inside the high-rise, which houses several corporate offices, including those of the NFL.
Authorities say Tamura initially intended to attack the NFL headquarters but mistakenly took an elevator that brought him to the wrong floor. Before heading upstairs, he opened fire in the lobby — where Etienne, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, and off-duty NYPD officer Didarul Islam were fatally shot.
Islam, a father of two with a third child on the way, was working an off-duty security shift at the time. He had previously worked as a school guard before joining the NYPD and was remembered by friends as a pillar of New York’s Bangladeshi community.
LePatner, a longtime Blackstone executive and mother of two, was also in the lobby when she was struck and killed.
The fourth victim, later identified as Julia Hyman, 27, was working on the 33rd floor at Rudin Management — the building’s owners — when Tamura continued his rampage upstairs.
Tamura, a former high school football player, left behind a suicide note in which he claimed to be suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease associated with repeated head trauma. He specifically blamed the NFL and requested that his brain be studied after death.
In the note, he referenced former NFL player Terry Long, who died by suicide in 2005 after drinking antifreeze and was later diagnosed with CTE. “Football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” Tamura reportedly wrote. “You can’t go against the NFL. They’ll squash you.”
The NYPD confirmed that Tamura had a documented history of mental illness and legally possessed firearms in Nevada.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a memo following the attack confirming that one NFL employee had been injured but was in stable condition. “This was an unspeakable act of violence,” he wrote. “We are supporting the employee and their family.”
The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing as the city mourns the lives lost — including that of Aland Etienne, whose courage and service are being hailed in the aftermath of the tragedy.
