The parents of a young real estate worker slain in last year’s mass shooting at a Midtown office tower have sued the building’s owner, claiming a cascade of security failures cost their daughter her life.
Craig and Nanci Hyman filed the wrongful-death lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, naming Rudin Management and the security firms contracted to protect the 44-story skyscraper at 345 Park Ave. Their daughter Julia Hyman, 27, a Cornell University graduate and Rudin associate, was gunned down on July 28, when a shooter reached the 33rd floor where she worked.
The lawsuit alleges that the building’s security apparatus collapsed at multiple critical moments. There was no functioning system to alert occupants about the active emergency, and the elevators were never locked down even as the gunman moved through the tower, according to the filing. The Hyms contend that these lapses allowed the shooter to travel unimpeded to the floor where their daughter sat working.
“Julia’s pain, suffering, and death were preventable,” the suit states. “The mere existence of security personnel or security procedures was not enough. Those measures had to work.”
The gunman, Shane Tamura, had driven from his Las Vegas home to Manhattan and crossed the building’s outdoor plaza carrying an AR-15-style rifle. His intended target was the National Football League headquarters on the fifth floor, but he boarded the wrong elevator and emerged on the 33rd floor instead, where Rudin maintained its management offices.
“Julia’s death was not simply the result of a lone gunman’s actions,” the lawsuit claims. “It was also the culmination of myriad security failures that allowed an armed assailant to move through a major office building in midtown Manhattan, shoot occupants, access an elevator, reach the 33rd floor, and kill a young woman.”
The rampage left four others dead: Wesley LePatner, 43, CEO of a Blackstone real estate investment fund; Aland Etienne, 46, a security guard at the high-rise; and NYPD Det. Didarul Islam, 36. The Hyms have previously indicated they may also sue the city, filing court papers last summer that accused Islam of having “utterly and completely failed to identify an obvious impending security threat and took no actions whatsoever to thwart or mitigate said threat.” A judge recently cleared the way for the family and another wounded victim to proceed with litigation against the city, though neither had filed a new suit as of Tuesday.
Benedict Morelli, founding partner of Morelli Law Firm, is representing Hyman’s parents in the case against Rudin and the security companies.
“Julia went to work that day with every expectation that the people responsible for the building’s security had taken reasonable steps to protect her,” Morelli said. “We believe failures in the building’s security and emergency response contributed to this tragedy, and Julia’s family deserves answers and accountability.”
The lawsuit frames Julia Hyman’s death as the endpoint of a chain of operational breakdowns rather than an isolated criminal act. By highlighting the elevator access and the absence of occupant alerts, the filing suggests that even basic commercial-building protocols were not enforced during an unfolding mass-casualty event in one of Manhattan’s most prominent business addresses.
Rudin Management has not publicly responded to the lawsuit.