Ex-NFL Player Phillip Adams is reported to have been the gunman behind the killing of five people including himself in South Carolina early Thursday, authorities confirmed.
Dr Robert Lesslie, 70, and his wife, Barbara Lesslie, 69, were pronounced dead at the scene along with grandchildren Adah Lesslie, 9, and Noah Lesslie, 5, the York County coroner’s office said.
A man who had been working at the home, James Lewis, 38, from Gaston, was found shot to death outside, and a sixth person was hospitalized with “serious gunshot wounds,” York County Sheriff’s Office’s spokesperson Trent Faris said.
At a news conference, authorities said they had not yet determined a motive. “There’s nothing right now that makes sense to any of us,” said York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson. A source familiar with the investigation said the doctor had treated Adams. The source said Adams killed himself after midnight with a .45-caliber weapon.
Tolson said evidence left at the scene of the shooting led them to Adams as a suspect. He said they went to Adams’ parents’ home, evacuated them and then tried to talk Adams out of the house. Eventually, they found him dead of a single gunshot wound to the head in a bedroom, he said.
The reason behind Phillip Adams’ actions is still unclear
Phillip Adams, 33, played in 78 NFL games over five seasons, from 2010-15, for six teams. A safety and special teams player from South Carolina State, he joined the 49ers in 2010 as a seventh-round draft pick.
Rarely a starter, Adams also was with New England, Seattle, Oakland and the New York Jets, finishing his career with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015.
As a rookie late in the 2010 season, Adams suffered a severe ankle injury that required surgery that included several screws being inserted into the leg. He never played for the 49ers again, getting released just before the 2011 season began and signing with New England. He moved next to the Raiders, where he had 2 concussions in a 3 game period in 2012.
Whether Phillip Adams suffered long-lasting injuries from his concussions as a player wasn’t immediately clear. Adams would not have been eligible for testing as part of a broad settlement between the league and its former players over such injuries, because he hadn’t retired by 2014.
Adams’ father told a Charlotte television station that he blamed football for problems that may have led his son to commit Wednesday’s violence.
“I can say he’s a good kid,” Alonzo Adams told WCNC-TV. “I think the football messed him up.”
President Joe Biden mentioned the mass shooting in South Carolina during a speech Thursday about gun violence.
“We saw it again last night,” he said. “As I was coming to the Oval Office, I got the word that in South Carolina a physician with his wife, two grandchildren and a person working at his house was gunned down. All five.”
Read more on the story via NY 1
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