Total Pro Sports
Terry Long’s sister has opened up on Manhattan shooter Shane Tamura’s mention of her brother in the suicide note found on his body after he killed four people and turned the gun on himself.
Long was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after he took his own life in 2005 and was referenced in a three-page letter retrieved from Tamura’s back pocket on Monday.
“The football of Terry Long gave me CTE and made me drink a gallon of antifreeze… You can’t go against the NFL, they’ll crush you… Study my brain, please. I’m sorry. Tell Rick I’m sorry for everything,” the note read.
The Daily Mail has since interviewed Long’s sister, Robin Ellison, who said she was emotional after learning he was mentioned.
She also discussed another family tragedy involving her son, who was also a football player and died from heatstroke on the first day of high school practice in 1999.
“It makes me very emotional, because I had a son Marcus who died of heat stroke the first day of practice and my brother died, something to do with football,” Ellison, 65, told the Mail.
“I get teared up because I really miss my little brother. He was a big teddy bear. He loved his mother. It makes me sad,” she added.
Tamura was a promising football player himself and won multiple personal accolades playing for schools in Los Angeles.
He was of the view that he suffered from CTE and seemed to blame the NFL. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he targeted the NFL headquarters in Midtown Manhattan but took the wrong bank of elevators.
As for Terry, he spent his entire eight-year career as an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers and took his own life at the age of 45 by drinking antifreeze.
The Mail notes that his sister was in tears when she told them that his name returning to national news was a painful reminder for her family’s devastating experience with football.
