Is there a link between CTE brain disease and violent crime?

Published

2 years ago

February 19, 2024

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When Noah Green, a 25-year-old with no known history of violence, crashed his car into a barricade at the Capitol building in Washington DC, killing one police officer, before lunging at others with a knife, his own family were grappling for answers.

“My heart just sank,” his mother, Mazie Green, tells me. It was a murder, which, on the face of it, had nothing to do with American football.

But three years on and speaking publicly for the first time since that day, Mazie says she now believes it has everything to do with American football.

Green was shot dead by responding police, and in the days after the killing the FBI recommended that Mazie submit Noah’s brain to be analysed.

The diagnosis came back months later, indicating Green had stage one Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, more commonly known as CTE.

It’s a brain disease caused by repetitive blows to the head and it afflicts participants of contact sport, including American football. Symptoms include aggression, paranoia and problems controlling impulses.

“Noah took big hits,” Mazie says. At Alleghany High School in rural Virginia, Green had played in defence and was voted most valuable player and he later played for Christopher Newport University.

Teammates recall him being dependable and good-natured but Mazie says she noticed changes after he suffered several head injuries.

“He wanted to be tough, to prove himself,” Mazie says, “But there were changes. He would start wearing blankets around his head and I thought it was a teenage thing, but it was because he was so sensitive to the light. Then he would lose his keys and he forgot how to cook, prepare his meals.

“After that, he started with these really bad headaches. One day he said ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me, mum, I’ve lost 20 pounds…. I feel like I need to leave. I’ve got to get out of the country. They’re going to kill me, the FBI, they’re going to kill me.’

“He was paranoid.”

Officer William Evans, the police officer who Noah Green killed, left behind two young children. I ask Mazie if she has any message for his family.

“Officer Evans should not have died that day,” she says, “Noah should not have died that day. Someone has to take the responsibility for telling parents what to do if something’s just not quite right with those kids that are out there playing football for entertainment.”

Shannon Terranova, the former spouse of Officer Evans and mother of his two young children, said: “I want to be mindful of all who are impacted by this real-life horror; but it is difficult for me to comprehend any rationalisation of what happened to Billy and the events that led up to his death. I appreciate the efforts in bringing awareness to the long-term implications of bodily trauma caused by sports injuries. However, nothing can justify what Billy’s co-workers and family experienced, saw, and felt on April 2 2021, and every day since.”

Christopher Newport University declined to comment on Noah Green’s case. Alleghany High School did not respond to Sky News’s request for comment.

The question over whether CTE is linked to violent crime has come to the fore after numerous incidents of violent ex-football players.

Former San Francisco 49ers star Phillip Adams shot dead six people in an explosion of violence in 2021.

He murdered doctor Robert Lesslie, his wife, Barbara Lesslie, and two of their grandchildren, Adah, 9, and Noah, 5 at their home in South Carolina.

He also killed James Lewis and Robert Shook, who were working on an air conditioning unit at the house. Analysis of Adams’ brain showed he had severe CTE.

Kellen Winslow, another former NFL player, was convicted of multiple rapes in 2021.

His lawyer argued for his sentence to be reduced because of what he says was head trauma suffered on the football field. That potential mitigating factor was rejected by a judge.

Most experts say it is hard to say definitively what motivates someone to commit a crime, but the symptoms CTE causes could all contribute. More research into the causes of CTE and what factors might make some people more susceptible is under way.

Sky News was given access to the national sports brain bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where former professional and amateur American footballers are being urged to donate their brains for study.

Inside the histology laboratory, Dr Julia Kofler slices open a brain with a knife to show me the cross-section.

It is impossible to diagnose CTE with the naked eye so she takes a tiny sample of the brain tissue and loads it onto a slide so it can be analysed under the microscope.

I ask if she thinks there is a link between CTE and violent crime. “It’s really difficult to draw any conclusions about what motivates someone to commit a crime based just on their pathology,” she says, “but we certainly know that neurodegenerative diseases can cause all sorts of different behavioural changes and changes in executive function and judgement, so it certainly could have contributed.”

‘We watched him lose himself’

Karen Kinzle Zegel is one of those fighting for more research. Her son, Patrick Risha, had CTE and died by suicide aged 32. He had played American football throughout his childhood and at university.

“We watched him over 10 years, sadly lose himself, lose his dignity,” she says, “He was paranoid, he was argumentative.

“One time there was an incident with him and he said a homeless guy attacked him in Pittsburgh and he broke his hand punching this person. The rage he had was definitely scary.”

Through her organisation Stop CTE, Karen is campaigning for the brains of those who commit mass violence to be analysed for traumatic injury.

“Every time we’re looking at the symptoms like ‘they lost a job, they, broke up with their girlfriend’.

“Everybody wants to know why, why would someone take another person’s life? But if you’ve dealt with somebody whose brain became unwired you see the lack of empathy. They don’t care about other people, sadly.

“We’re not going back to the root cause, which could be a damaged brain.”

Concerns about brain injuries have contributed to the growth of flag football, a lesser contact sport which means fewer big hits and not an obvious danger.

But the popularity of the NFL as a spectator sport is enduring. Last week’s Super Bowl final was the most-watched TV event in American history.

But for its stars, the damage may already been done. The human cost of the richest sport league in the world is far too difficult to count.

Sky News contacted the NFL for comment about our report. In response, the NFL provided details of the funding they are giving into CTE-related research, mental health support and the physical safety measures they say they are taking in the sport.

US

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

Published

6 hours ago

November 28, 2025

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US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

The US will review green cards issued to the citizens of 19 countries after two members of the National Guard were shot by a suspected Afghan gunman in Washington DC.

Immigration from Afghanistan has also been suspended indefinitely, the White House said, following the double shooting on Wednesday.

Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), revealed the order from President Trump.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

Asked which countries would be affected, USCIS pointed to a presidential proclamation from June listing 19 countries.

The proclamation sought to “fully restrict” arrivals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

It also “partially” restricted arrivals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the suspected gunman in this week’s shooting and has been detained.

He worked as part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, and reportedly came to the States under a programme meant to help Afghans who’d risked their lives assisting US troops in Afghanistan.

He’s thought to have driven thousands of miles to the capital from his home in Washington state, where he lives with his wife and five children.

Attorney general Pam Bondi called him “a lone gunman” who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style”.

President Trump described him as a “savage monster”.

He was granted asylum in April this year, according to NBC News.

One of his victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her wounds, while the other, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in a critical condition.

Lakanwal reportedly came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome, a programme enacted by former President Joe Biden after he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Edlow explictly targeted the previous president as he announced the new green card regime.

He wrote on X: “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”

Speaking after the attack, President Trump was even more caustic.

He said: “The suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.

“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.

“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden – a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”

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He continued: “This attack underscores the greatest national security threat facing our nation.

“The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t even want to know about.

“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”

US

Trump says one of National Guard members shot in Washington DC has died

Published

18 hours ago

November 27, 2025

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Trump says one of National Guard members shot in Washington DC has died

One of the National Guard members shot in Washington DC on Wednesday has died from her injuries, Donald Trump has said.

The president said 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom had “just passed away” and called her a “highly respected” and “magnificent person”.

The other person who was shot, Andrew Wolfe, 24, is in a critical condition. The pair were ambushed while patrolling near the White House.

Ms Beckstrom’s father had earlier told The New York Times she was unlikely to survive and he was “holding her hand”.

The suspected gunman, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is in a serious condition, Mr Trump told reporters.

He drove thousands of miles from his home in Washington state to carry out the attack with a powerful Magnum revolver, according to US attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Lakanwal is said to have worked in a CIA-backed Afghan army unit before coming to the US in 2021 under a resettlement programme designed to protect people from Taliban reprisals.

His asylum application was passed this year.

Investigators are treating it as terrorism and searched multiple properties on Thursday, including one linked to Lankanwal in Washington state, where the FBI seized electronic devices and interviewed relatives.

Lakanwal has a wife and five children family, but Washington DC police said he appeared to have acted alone.

Ms Beckstrom, part of the West Virginia National Guard, had been deployed as part of the president’s plan to clamp down on what he says are high levels of crime and illegal immigration in some US cities.

Mr Trump ordered 500 extra troops into the capital after the shooting, joining about 2,200 already there.

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US

Washington DC shooting suspect is Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit

Published

1 day ago

November 27, 2025

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Washington DC shooting suspect is Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit

The suspect who opened fire on two National Guard soldiers just blocks from the White House is an Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, according to officials.

He worked with “the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar” during the US-led war in the country, CIA director John Ratcliffe has said.

The suspect, who has been pictured for the first time, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested.

He was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.

Attorney general Pam Bondi said the US government plans to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum”.

“A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” she told reporters.

US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro identified the two wounded Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.

She said they had been sworn in as National Guard members fewer than 24 hours before the shooting.

Ms Pirro said the suspect ambushed them while they were patrolling near the White House. He shot one Guardsman who fell and then shot again before firing multiple times at the second Guardsman with the Magnum handgun.

Numerous electronic devices seized from suspect’s home

The suspect “drove his vehicle cross-country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” Ms Pirro said.

The FBI searched multiple properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism probe into the DC shooting.

Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, FBI director Kash Patel told a news conference.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle Afghans who assisted the US during the war and feared reprisals from the Taliban after the withdrawal.

An unnamed relative of the suspect has said that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US Special Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.

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The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon.com the last time they spoke several months ago, according to Sky’s US partner NBC News.

A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity has said that Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April of this year.

Lakanwal had no known criminal history, the official said.

US President Donald Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.

He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who arrived in the US during the presidency of his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has said it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols”.

In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president requested an additional 500 National Guard troops to bolster the more than 2,000 already deployed in the nation’s capital.

In August, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city to combat rising crime, a move that drew objections from District of Columbia officials who argued in court that it violated local authority.