BREIT CEO Wesley LePatner Killed in 345 Park Shooting (UPDATED)

Wesley LePatner, CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), was killed Monday evening, one of the victims of the shooting at 345 Park Avenue.

LePatner, who was 43, took over leadership of BREIT in January after being named CEO last year. She also served as Blackstone’s global head of core-plus real estate, and was a member of the company’s real estate investment committee.

The daughter of a real estate attorney and a bankruptcy attorney, LePatner grew up learning about real estate at the dinner table, according to The Real Deal. She joined Blackstone in 2014 after a decade at Goldman Sachs, where she served as managing director in the real estate investment group.

LePatner was named earlier this year to the Board of Trustees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and also served similar roles for the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, the UJA-Federation of New York, and the Yale University Library Council.

The shooting occurred around 6:30 p.m. Monday when the gunman, Shane Devon Tamura, walked into Rudin Management’s 345 Park Avenue brandishing a rifle. He shot NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was working as a security officer at the time and did not survive.

According to The New York Times, the gunman killed himself with a shot to the chest after shooting LePatner, Islam and one person who remains unidentified. The paper reports that the gunman left a three-page note talking about his mental illness and how he believed his high school football career may have been a cause, mentioning CTE, a brain disease that has come to be associated with concussions suffered while playing football, in the note.

345 Park Avenue is the home of building owner Rudin, as well as Blackstone, KPMG and the National Football League. The Times reported that when the gunman couldn’t access the NFL’s offices, he found his way to Rudin’s instead.

LePatner is survived by her husband, parents, and two children.

“We cannot properly express the grief we feel upon the sudden and tragic loss of Wesley,” the LePatner family said in a statement to CO. “She was the most loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and relative, who enriched our lives in every way imaginable. To so many others, she was a beloved, fiercely loyal and caring friend, and a driven and extraordinarily talented professional and colleague. At this unbearably painful time, we are experiencing an enormous, gaping hole in our hearts that will never be filled, yet we will carry on the remarkable legacy Wesley created. As we begin the difficult mourning process, we extend our deepest condolences to those who have also lost loved ones, and we ask that you provide us with the privacy we need in the coming days and weeks.”

This article has been updated to include a statement from the LePatner family.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.