CANTON, Ohio (AP) — The NFL season kicked off at the annual Hall of Fame game Thursday night with a moment of silence for the four people killed earlier this week by a shooter who was targeting league headquarters in New York.
The gunman also wounded a league employee in the shooting Monday night. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told NBC he visited the employee for an hour on Wednesday and said the man was improving.
“It’s just heartbreaking for all of us. It’s devastating,” Goodell said. “An amazing young man, and so we’re optimistic about his recovery and I think that’s good news for all of us in the NFL and obviously our hearts continue to be in support with the family. I think it is something that is really hard for all of us to understand and to deal with.”
Goodell stayed in New York to attend the funeral for police officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in the shooting.
“It hits home, the loss, the unnecessary and unexplainable loss. and it’s something all of us, you know, as New Yorkers feel great pride in the NYPD and what they do, and all the first first responders,” Goodell said. “So it was a difficult, emotional afternoon, but also a tremendous, heartwarming service.”
There was increased security around Tom Benson Stadium, where Eric Allen, Jared Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
“That’s real life and it’s unfortunate that we live in a space right now that’s a possibility and it’s becoming a situation where if you’re a parent, that’s the first thing you think about is workplace safety for your child or for your loved ones,” Eric Allen told The Associated Press. “And for it to specifically be the National Football League, the opening week is tonight, Hall of Fame is Saturday, and the game has made so many great strides, but it’s just an example of there’s still work to be done.”
The league held a virtual town hall Wednesday, giving employees an opportunity to connect and share resources. Goodell told employees on Tuesday they could work remotely at least through the end of next week because league offices would be closed.
Investigators believe Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas, was trying to get to the NFL offices after shooting several people in the building’s lobby, then another in a 33rd-floor office on Monday, before he killed himself, authorities said.
Police said Tamura had a history of mental illness, and a rambling note found on his body suggested that he had a grievance against the NFL over a claim that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that can be diagnosed only by examining the brain after a person dies.
Tamura played high school football in California a decade ago but never in the NFL.
“It is a difficult thing, particularly when you are dealing with senseless acts like this,” Goodell said. “They’re hard for all of us to understand, when it inflicts pain on people you know and people you care about and people that we deal with on a daily basis, that’s particularly hard.
“As you know these acts of senseless violence and hatred are happening around our country and our world, far too often in schools and churches and synagogues and other places, this should just not be happening. But we all have to continue to be vigilant and do what we can to protect ourselves and the NFL’s going to do that with our employees and our people.”
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