security guard

Shane Tamura, the gunman who killed four people and himself in a New York City office building in July, had CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to head injuries sustained in football and other contact sports.

The New York medical examiner “found unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, in the brain tissue of the decedent,” according to a statement. “The findings correspond with the classification of low-stage CTE, according to current consensus criteria.”

The 27-year-old, who took his own life, was a high school football player at Granada Hills Charter School in the San Fernando Valley and Golden Valley High in Santa Clarita.

Tamura drove this summer from Nevada — where he worked as a security guard at the Horseshoe Las Vegas hotel and casino — to New York, leaving behind a three-page suicide note stating that he believed he had CTE and that his motive was anger at the NFL for making profit a priority over players’ brain safety.

“Football gave me CTE,” Tamura reportedly wrote. “Study my brain please.”

Tamura entered the skyscraper on Park Avenue that houses NFL headquarters but ended up on the wrong floor. He killed police officer Didarul Islam, security guard Aland Etienne, Blackstone senior executive Wesley LePatner and real estate employee Julie Hyman. He also shot and wounded NFL employee Craig Clementi before killing himself with a shot to the chest.

CTE, caused by concussions and non-concussive impacts, tends to be diagnosed mostly in those who have played football for a decade or longer. However, four years of high school football could expose a player to CTE, said Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports athletes and others affected by CTE and concussions.

“The odds of having CTE are best correlated to the number of seasons played,” Nowinski said. “The best window we have is we have studied 45 former high school players who died before 30, and 31% had CTE.”

Daniel Daneshvar, chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, said high school football players warrant greater study and treatment.

“Can a high school player get it? Yes,” Daneshvar recently told The Times. “Of the 3.97 million football players in this country, those that are playing at the college and the professional level are less than 4%, so we’re talking about over 96% of people are playing at some youth or high school level.”

Nowinski stressed that being diagnosed with CTE didn’t necessarily cause Tamura to commit a crime.

“It’s very clear that most people who have developed CTE have not become murderers, and most people have not had extraordinary psychiatric symptoms that involve them to have involuntary psychiatric holds,” Nowinski said.

Tamura was remembered as quiet and respectful in high school. Granada Hills teammate Anthony Michael Leon told NBC News, “This is so shocking. I’m telling you, this was one of those kids who never exerted bad energy or a negative attitude.

“He was quiet, but when he did actually talk, people listened.”

Cardi B returned to the witness stand on Wednesday in a civil suit brought by a security guard who alleged that the rapper assaulted her — even scratching her with one of her nail extensions — in a 2018 incident in the hallway outside a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s office.

On Wednesday, the performer blasted the plaintiff, saying she is looking for a payout. Emani Ellis is seeking $24 million. Cardi B said the pair went chest-to-chest and exchanged heated words but nothing more.

Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, reiterated in her testimony that she never touched, scratched or spat at the security guard, who she believed was taking video of her with her cellphone.

Her defense got a boost Wednesday with the testimony of the obstetrician with whom the then-4-months-pregnant rapper had an appointment on the day of the incident — Feb. 24, 2018 — as well as from his receptionist.

Receptionist Tierra Malcolm told jurors that she saw Ellis corner Cardi B — and then, when the receptionist got between them, the guard reached for the rapper. The receptionist said she ended up with a cut on her own forehead.

Dr. David Finke testified that he saw the guard cause that injury and also hit the receptionist’s shoulder. He further said that Ellis had no injuries to her face. Both testified they never saw Cardi B hit Ellis.

But the rapper testified that when a doctor’s staffer asked Ellis that day what had occurred, Ellis said, “The b— just hit me.’ … And I’m, like, so confused because … I didn’t hit you.”

Under cross-examination by Ellis’ attorney, the rapper acknowledged she and Ellis were chest-to-chest as expletives were traded.

Ellis filed suit in 2020, alleging assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as negligence and false imprisonment.

She worked as a security guard at the building where Cardi B had her medical appointment and said during testimony on Monday that she was doing her rounds when she saw the celebrity get off the elevator. She testified that she was overcome with excitement and declared, “Wow, it’s Cardi B.”

Ellis alleged that the performer then turned to her and said, “Why the f— are you telling people you’ve seen me?” Cardi B then accused her of trying to spread news about her being at the doctor’s office, she testified.

Cardi B cursed at her, used the N-word and other slurs, called her names, threatened her job, body-shamed her and mocked her career, Ellis said. She alleged Cardi B spat on her, took a swing at her and scratched her left cheek with a 2- to 3-inch fingernail.

The rapper said during Wednesday’s court proceedings that she’s 5 foot 3 and was 130 pounds and pregnant at the time. She wouldn’t have tried to fight the guard, who was far larger, she said.

Asked if she was “disabled” during the incident, Cardi B’s comments drew laughter in the courtroom: “At that moment, when you’re pregnant, I’m very disabled,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “You want me to tell you the things I can’t do?”

Malcolm said that Cardi B was the lone patient visiting the office that day as it had been closed for her privacy.

When the incident occurred, the receptionist said, “I really just saw Ms. Ellis in front of her and that’s what made me rush and get in between.” Malcolm acknowledged that she did not see the entire interaction between the pair.

When she got between them, Malcolm testified she was facing Ellis, who was reaching with her arms. Malcolm said she suffered a cut to her forehead during the incident.

“Cardi B was behind me. The only assumption I had was that it was from Ms. Ellis as she was facing me,” she testified. “I see her hands trying to reach over me.”

Asked if Cardi B could have caused the injury with one of her nails, she replied, “But she was behind me.” She said it was a nurse who noticed the cut to her forehead.

The doctor said he was “just flabbergasted with the allegations that don’t seem congruent with what i saw that day.”

Following the incident, he said he eventually persuaded Ellis to get on the elevator and leave the floor.

Cardi B testified Wednesday that her social media followers alerted her that the guard had gone online about the incident, where she responded, calling the accusations lies.

The defense ended at the end of Wednesday’s session.

For the third day of the trial, the rapper, known for her daring style choices, donned a long black wig. The first day of the trial, she sported short black hair, followed the next day by a blond showgirl hairstyle.

Cardi B testified Tuesday that she never touched, scratched or spat at a security guard who is suing her over an alleged assault by the pop star outside a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s office.

The rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, took the witness stand in the second day of the civil trial in an Alhambra court and vigorously denied assaulting Emani Ellis on Feb. 24, 2018. Cardi B was visiting the 5th-floor office of the obstetrician at the time and was four months pregnant with her first child.

“It was a verbal incident,” insisted Cardi B. “She didn’t hit me. I didn’t hit her. There was no touching. So, to me, it wasn’t no incident.”

The rapper did say that they went chest to chest in the hallway outside the doctor’s office, and that she called the guard a “b—” because she believed Ellis was recording her with a cellphone.

“Was there spitting?” the security guard’s lawyer, Ron Rosen, asked.

“Absolutely not,” Cardi B replied.

“Did you call her the N-word?”

“No,” the performer replied, noting that she considers herself “Afro-Caribbean.”

“Did you take a swing at her?” Rosen followed up.

“No,” replied Cardi B, who insisted it was a “verbal fight. … It did not get physical at all.”

Rosen delved into the difference between a fight and a verbal altercation, asking whether he and the pop star were then having a verbal altercation. Cardi B replied that they were debating, a statement that was greeted with laughter in the courtroom.

The lawyer countered, “We’re debating about whether you assaulted and battered Ms. Emani Ellis?”

“I guess so,” replied Cardi B. “But I didn’t touch her. She didn’t touch me.” The recording artist said there were no videos of the incident.

Ellis filed suit in 2020, alleging assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as negligence and false imprisonment.

Ellis, who worked as a security guard at the building where Cardi B had her medical appointment, said during testimony on Monday that she was doing her rounds when she saw the celebrity get off the elevator. She testified that she was overcome with excitement and declared, “Wow, it’s Cardi B.”

Ellis said the performer then turned to her and said, “Why the f— are you telling people you’ve seen me?” Cardi B then accused her of trying to spread news about her being at the doctor’s office, she testified.

Cardi B cursed at her, used the N-word and other slurs, called her names, threatened her job, body-shamed her and mocked her career, Ellis said. She alleged Cardi B spat on her, took a swing at her and scratched her left cheek with a 2- to 3-inch fingernail.

Cardi B said when she turned around after getting off the elevator, she heard Ellis say her name and then saw Ellis with her cellphone and said, “Why are you recording me?” The performer said the guard said, “My bad,” but continued to follow her and said she had the right to follow her.

Cardi B said that they went chest to chest and that she did curse at Ellis but that she never touched the guard, who was physically larger. When the obstetrician’s receptionist finally came out, the guard alleged the singer had hit her — something that Cardi B said never happened.

The rapper conceded she never saw proof that Ellis was recording her. She said her appointment was both sensitive and confidential; she was seeing a doctor because of concerns about her pregnancy, which wasn’t yet public.

For the second day of the trial, the rapper — who is known for her daring style choices — donned a blond showgirl hairstyle that contrasted with the black short hair she wore during the first day of testimony. Under questioning, she said they were both wigs and that she had 1-inch nail extensions.

She refused to concede that she usually wore 2- to 3-inch nails, replying that sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn’t.

Flavor Flav is offering greater insight into his confrontation with security at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

On Wednesday, the “Shake Your Booty” hitmaker in a since-deleted X post described his alleged clash with the annual holiday event’s security detail. According to his account, he was escorted backstage to greet the Backstreet Boys — among the night’s performing acts — in the group’s dressing room. Shortly after arriving, the rapper said he was abruptly informed that host network NBC “does not want me in this area and I need to leave.”

Representatives for NBC and the Backstreet Boys did not reply immediately Thursday to The Times’ request for comment.

At the same time he was being ousted, Flavor Flav said that NBC’s “social media woman came up and asked to capture social content.”

“What did I ever do to NBC or anyone?” he asked. “All I ever do is try to spread joy and love… and I think I did that for NBC at the Olympics.” (Flavor Flav sponsored the U.S. women’s water polo team at this summer’s Olympic Games, also serving as the sport’s official hype man.)

The post was live for less than an hour and was followed by a second in which Flavor Flav said his “spirit was broken.”

“I posted and quickly deleted something last night,” he wrote in another post Thursday on X. “I was embarrassed by some language and actions by security guards throwing their weight around.”

The founding member of seminal hip-hop group Public Enemy called the situation “poorly handled” and thanked fans for the support he received after his initial post. He also expressed regret that buzz related to the alleged incident “takes away from the incredible performances and everyone’s hard work.”

A representative for Flavor Flav similarly told The Times that outside of Thursday’s statement, the rapper “doesn’t really want to speak about [the incident] and create any negative headlines.”

Capping off his Thursday post, Flavor Flav said he “stayed and watched the Backstreet Boys from side stage just as it started to snow.” He attached footage of the band’s performance, calling vocalist Howie Dorough “one of the NICEST guys in the music industry” and his fellow band members “real good people.”

Wednesday’s production also featured performances from Dan + Shay, Jennifer Hudson and Grammy best new artist nominee Coco Jones, among others. On top of performing, Kelly Clarkson hosted for the second consecutive year.