July 31, 2025 • 6 mins
Dr. Caplan dives into Monday's Suspect's Mental Health Issues that may have caused him to have a psychotic break. Dr Caplan also explains what CT is.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's get to doctor Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics
at New York University LANGN Medical Center. He's with us
every Tuesday at this time, doctor Caplan, Hope you're having
a good morning. Let's talk about this mass shooting and
the fact that a suicide note was written claiming the
shooter claiming that he had CTE from concussions and playing football.
(00:26):
Let's talk about CTE. What exactly it is and could
it cause this kind of behavior?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it's and good morning. It's a condition cause by
repetitive injury to the brain, usually through if you will,
banging your head. It is associated with sports like rugby, football,
(00:54):
maybe hockey, where head injuries happen. And you also see it,
by the way, in soldiers who are around things like artillery,
where they're getting a lot of concussions from the use
of that ammunition blowing up around them all the time.
One thing that seems to be true, though, is it's
(01:16):
not the big injury in sports. Sometimes they say the
big hit that makes somebody pull you out and sit
you down, your bell got wrung. Seems to be something
that occurs over time with multiple hits. Small injuries in
other words, build up causes the brain to have a
kind of protein or gunk in it, let's call it
(01:37):
gunk that does seem to interfere with impost control. It
does seem to make cognitive changes where people don't think clearly.
So that's what chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE is. I
don't know that this guy knew whether or not he
(01:58):
had it or not. He certainly left a note he
was certainly apparently headed to NFL headquarters saying, you know,
NFL is covering up this problem and not really admitting
to it. I guess that's where he was going and
wound up in the wrong place and killed other people
(02:20):
had nothing to do with this, But I don't know.
I don't trust that he's the diagnostic guy on this man.
He did get an injury, but I have a feeling
we're dealing here with mental illness more than we are
brain confirmed diagnosis of CTE. Right.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
His name is Shane Shane Devin Toma, and he was
put away a couple of times against his will for
mental illness, So it does explain a lot. I mean,
he must have known there was something wrong with him
and blamed it on him playing football and then blamed
(02:59):
the And so I guess we're gonna be running around
in circles if we try to figure out what someone
who had mental health problems was thinking when they acted erratically.
But most of the time, I think people that have
mental health problems don't turn to violence, do they.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's true, they do not. It's very rare that they do.
And let me come back to this, mister Timura. You know,
you can be a violent person and have mental illness.
You can have a background where aggression was encouraged, or
you know, you were just abused as a kid. Violent
(03:41):
people act violently. Some of them are probably gonna have CTE,
some of them are going to have mental illness. But
mental illnesses in general do not cause you know, harm others.
You know what they do, They cause suicides.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Right, which is what he did.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, in a very public and horrific manner. But yeah,
you know there are football players for sure who suffered terribly.
I'm thinking here, remember Aaron Hernandez, the Patriots player. Oh yeah,
he was in prison, he got murdered, he was convicted
of murders and he was found to have head injury.
(04:19):
You can only really diagnose this on autopsy after the fact.
Remember there was another Pittsburgh Steelers guy, Terry Long, who
killed himself, who was found to at CTE. I'm not
saying it doesn't exist, but again, and I'm not saying
in fact that we shouldn't look more carefully, but if
you look at the studies that are out there on CTE,
(04:41):
they don't really show a super higher rate of violence
or aggression and people have it. What they tend to
show as people get incoherent, they lose their memory, lose
their impost control, but not that they're running around buying
guns and engaged in murder.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
If he was put away twice for mental evaluation and
let go.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Shouldn't that be made.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well, not public, but shouldn't they be able to look
at that if they're going to give them a gun license?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know here, I mean, I know we're in controversial
territory about restricting gun sales, but if you are, let's say,
diagnosed institutionalized for mental illness, you should not be able
to buy a gun. It's that simple. I'm sorry. I
know people say it's still an intrusion to your basic
(05:36):
civil rights, but we don't need these incidents where people
if you will, their competency really is in doubt. So
I would say two things, Well, when you shouldn't be
able to buy it, and two you shouldn't be able
to buy a gun unless you can follow a simple
program about how to keep your gun safe, gun storage,
that sort of thing. If you can't get through that
(05:57):
and answer questions, I think we're just being We're just
too accepting of this overwhelming right to own a weapon
when it leads to I would say, you know, many
problems of suicide, mainly, but sometimes of violence against others.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I agree with you, and I don't think a lot
of people would push back on that. I think that
even gun owners, responsible gun owners, wouldn't want him to
have a gun.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Especially, Yeah, I do. I think you're okay on that.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Doctor Arthur Caplan, professor of Bioethics at New York University
lend Gon Medical Center, with us every Thursday at nine
oh five. Thanks so much, Doctor Captain.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Any thanks
Now let's get to doctor Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics
at New York University LANGN Medical Center. He's with us
every Tuesday at this time, doctor Caplan, Hope you're having
a good morning. Let's talk about this mass shooting and
the fact that a suicide note was written claiming the
shooter claiming that he had CTE from concussions and playing football.
(00:26):
Let's talk about CTE. What exactly it is and could
it cause this kind of behavior?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it's and good morning. It's a condition cause by
repetitive injury to the brain, usually through if you will,
banging your head. It is associated with sports like rugby, football,
(00:54):
maybe hockey, where head injuries happen. And you also see it,
by the way, in soldiers who are around things like artillery,
where they're getting a lot of concussions from the use
of that ammunition blowing up around them all the time.
One thing that seems to be true, though, is it's
(01:16):
not the big injury in sports. Sometimes they say the
big hit that makes somebody pull you out and sit
you down, your bell got wrung. Seems to be something
that occurs over time with multiple hits. Small injuries in
other words, build up causes the brain to have a
kind of protein or gunk in it, let's call it
(01:37):
gunk that does seem to interfere with impost control. It
does seem to make cognitive changes where people don't think clearly.
So that's what chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE is. I
don't know that this guy knew whether or not he
(01:58):
had it or not. He certainly left a note he
was certainly apparently headed to NFL headquarters saying, you know,
NFL is covering up this problem and not really admitting
to it. I guess that's where he was going and
wound up in the wrong place and killed other people
(02:20):
had nothing to do with this, But I don't know.
I don't trust that he's the diagnostic guy on this man.
He did get an injury, but I have a feeling
we're dealing here with mental illness more than we are
brain confirmed diagnosis of CTE. Right.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
His name is Shane Shane Devin Toma, and he was
put away a couple of times against his will for
mental illness, So it does explain a lot. I mean,
he must have known there was something wrong with him
and blamed it on him playing football and then blamed
(02:59):
the And so I guess we're gonna be running around
in circles if we try to figure out what someone
who had mental health problems was thinking when they acted erratically.
But most of the time, I think people that have
mental health problems don't turn to violence, do they.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's true, they do not. It's very rare that they do.
And let me come back to this, mister Timura. You know,
you can be a violent person and have mental illness.
You can have a background where aggression was encouraged, or
you know, you were just abused as a kid. Violent
(03:41):
people act violently. Some of them are probably gonna have CTE,
some of them are going to have mental illness. But
mental illnesses in general do not cause you know, harm others.
You know what they do, They cause suicides.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Right, which is what he did.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, in a very public and horrific manner. But yeah,
you know there are football players for sure who suffered terribly.
I'm thinking here, remember Aaron Hernandez, the Patriots player. Oh yeah,
he was in prison, he got murdered, he was convicted
of murders and he was found to have head injury.
(04:19):
You can only really diagnose this on autopsy after the fact.
Remember there was another Pittsburgh Steelers guy, Terry Long, who
killed himself, who was found to at CTE. I'm not
saying it doesn't exist, but again, and I'm not saying
in fact that we shouldn't look more carefully, but if
you look at the studies that are out there on CTE,
(04:41):
they don't really show a super higher rate of violence
or aggression and people have it. What they tend to
show as people get incoherent, they lose their memory, lose
their impost control, but not that they're running around buying
guns and engaged in murder.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
If he was put away twice for mental evaluation and
let go.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Shouldn't that be made.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well, not public, but shouldn't they be able to look
at that if they're going to give them a gun license?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know here, I mean, I know we're in controversial
territory about restricting gun sales, but if you are, let's say,
diagnosed institutionalized for mental illness, you should not be able
to buy a gun. It's that simple. I'm sorry. I
know people say it's still an intrusion to your basic
(05:36):
civil rights, but we don't need these incidents where people
if you will, their competency really is in doubt. So
I would say two things, Well, when you shouldn't be
able to buy it, and two you shouldn't be able
to buy a gun unless you can follow a simple
program about how to keep your gun safe, gun storage,
that sort of thing. If you can't get through that
(05:57):
and answer questions, I think we're just being We're just
too accepting of this overwhelming right to own a weapon
when it leads to I would say, you know, many
problems of suicide, mainly, but sometimes of violence against others.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I agree with you, and I don't think a lot
of people would push back on that. I think that
even gun owners, responsible gun owners, wouldn't want him to
have a gun.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Especially, Yeah, I do. I think you're okay on that.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Doctor Arthur Caplan, professor of Bioethics at New York University
lend Gon Medical Center, with us every Thursday at nine
oh five. Thanks so much, Doctor Captain.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Any thanks
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