Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a brain disease linked to repeated hits to the head, often seen in military veterans and athletes.

Tamura killed four and badly wounded another before shooting himself in the chest.In the note, Tamura claimed to have CTE—chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury condition due to repetitive trauma to the brain—and that he wanted researchers to study his brain.

The man who killed at least four people in a N.Y.C. office building shooting claimed in his suicide note to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Here’s what to know about the degenerative brain disease.