Security Ramps Up After 345 Park Avenue Shootings

Employees entering their Manhattan office buildings on Tuesday saw more suited staffers in the lobbies and police officers stationed near entrances.

The heightened security came one day after a gunman killed four people at Rudin Management’s 345 Park Avenue.

On Tuesday morning, several suited employees at Two Manhattan West could be seen lining the corridor between the building’s lobby and security gates, though by the afternoon, their numbers had thinned out.

Security Ramps Up After 345 Park Avenue Shootings — Officers stand outside 345 Park Avenue (Getty)

The lobbies of office buildings in the Hudson Yards area didn’t show obvious signs of ramped-up security by Tuesday afternoon, aside from potentially more staffers on hand. Representatives for two prominent office landlords in the area, Related Companies and Tishman Speyer, declined to discuss additional security measures being taken in the wake of the fatal shootings.

In the afternoon, two New York City police officers stood outside 50 Hudson Yards, near the entrance to BlackRock’s headquarters, and three more officers were spotted further along 10th Avenue, near the entrances to the Hudson Yards Shops.

One officer was standing outside an entrance to Tishman Speyer’s The Spiral, speaking with a building staffer.

RXR, one of the city’s largest commercial property owners, increased security patrols and security supervisor visits at its buildings out of an abundance of caution, a spokesperson for the company said.

The company noted that it regularly conducts active-shooter trainings (the next one is scheduled for August) and RXR’s head of security is a former senior NYPD leader, which creates an open line with law enforcement.

One person who works at 60 Columbus Circle noticed a few extra security staffers at their building, standing arm’s length from the entrance rather than sitting behind the lobby’s desk.

Rudin’s 345 Park Avenue was closed Tuesday as officials investigate the shooting. Security patrols increased at buildings near the site of the shooting, and some companies allowed employees to work from home, Bloomberg reported.

On Monday evening, a gunman identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas walked into the Park Avenue tower and started opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing four.

Police said Tamura, who drove cross-country in his BMW, was targeting the National Football Association, which has its headquarters in the building. According to his suicide note, Tamura, a former high school football player, believed he suffered from CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, an injury common in football. CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death through a brain autopsy.

Tamura mistakenly took the elevator to the 33rd floor, where Rudin has its offices. There, he shot and killed an associate at the company, Julia Hyman. He then reportedly turned his weapon on himself and committed suicide.

“The Rudin family and everyone at our company are devastated by yesterday’s senseless tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and lost last night, including our cherished Rudin colleague, a brave New York City police officer, a beloved lobby security guard and an employee at a tenant firm,” the Rudin family said in a statement. “We are grateful to the NYPD, FBI, EMS and multiple other emergency responders for their swift and courageous action. We also thank the Mayor and Police Commissioner for their leadership.”

Among the other victims was Wesley LePatner, the 43-year-old CEO of Blackstone’s BREIT.

“Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” Blackstone said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. “Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond.”