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.
Noah Green’s car after he rammed into a barricade at the Capitol building in Washington DC
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 Green with mother Mazie and his father
Noah and Mazie
“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.”
Mazie Green
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.
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How CTE is diagnosed
The casket of US Capitol Police officer William “Billy” Evans. Pic: AP
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.
Phillip Adams. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
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.
Kellen Winslow. Pic: AP
Winslow at his sentencing hearing in March 2021. Pic: AP
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.
Brains examined by Dr Julia Kofler for CTE
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.”
Dr Julia Kofler
‘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.”
Photos of Patrick Risha
Patrick Risha had CTE and died aged 32 after taking his own life
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.”
Patrick Risha’s mother, Karen Kinzle Zegel
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
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
Read more:
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?
Tariffs about something more than economics: power
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
Tanking stock markets, collapsing world orders, devastating trade wars; economists with their hair ablaze are scrambling to keep up.
But as we try to make sense of Donald Trumps’s tariff tsunami, economic theory only goes so far. In the end this surely is about something more primal.
Power.
Understanding that may be crucial to how the world responds.
Yes, economics helps explain the impact. The world’s economy has after all shifted on its axis, the way it’s been run for decades turned on its head.
Instead of driving world trade, America is creating a trade war. We will all feel the impact.
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PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
Donald Trump says he is settling scores, righting wrongs. America has been raped, looted and pillaged by the world trading system.
But don’t be distracted by the hyperbole – and if you think this is about economics alone, you may be missing the point.
Above all, tariffs give Donald Trump power. They strike fear into allies and enemies, from governments to corporations.
This is a president who runs his presidency like a medieval emperor or mafia don.
It is one reason why since his election we have seen what one statesman called a conga line of sycophants make their way to the White House, from world leaders to titans of industry.
The conga line will grow longer as they now redouble their efforts hoping to special treatment from Trump’s tariffs. Sir Keir Starmer among them.
President Trump’s using similar tactics at home, deploying presidential power to extract concessions and deter dissent in corporate America, academia and the US media. Those who offer favours are spared punishment.
His critics say he seeks a form power for the executive or presidential branch of government that the founding fathers deliberately sought to prevent.
Whether or not that is true, the same playbook of divide and rule through intimidation can now be applied internationally. Thanks to tariffs
Each country will seek exceptions but on Trump’s terms. Those who retaliate may meet escalation.
This is the unforgiving calculus for governments including our own plotting their next moves.
The temptation will be to give Trump whatever he wants to spare their economies, but there is a jeopardy that compounds the longer this goes on.
Read more:
Do Trump’s numbers on tariffs really add up?
Trump hits island home only to penguins with 10% tariffs
Could America’s traditional allies turn to China? Pic: AP
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who coined the conga line comparison, put it this way: “Pretty much all the international leaders I have seen that have sucked up to Trump have been run over. The reality is if you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”
Trading partners may be able to mitigate the impact of these tariffs through negotiation, but that may only encourage this unorthodox president to demand ever more?
Ultimately the world will need a more reliable superpower than that.
In the hands of such a president, America cannot be counted on.
When it comes to security, stability and prosperity, allies will need to fend for themselves.
And they will need new friends. If Washington can’t be relied on, Beijing beckons.
America First will, more and more, mean America on its own.
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