Former NFL player Phillip Adams kills five people including doctor then himself

9 April 2021, 01:24

Phillip Adams sits on the bench in his San Francisco 49ers' uniform
South Carolina Shooting Report. Picture: PA

Adams played in 78 NFL games over five seasons for six teams before retiring after the 2015-16 season.

Former NFL player Phillip Adams fatally shot five people including a prominent doctor, his wife and their two grandchildren before killing himself.

Dr Robert Lesslie, 70, and his wife, Barbara, 69, were pronounced dead in their home in Rock Hill, South Carolina, along with their grandchildren Adah Lesslie, 9, and Noah Lesslie, 5, the York County coroner’s office said.

A man who had been working at the Lesslie home, James Lewis, 38, from Gaston, was found shot to death outside.

A sixth victim, Robert Shook, 38, of Cherryville, North Carolina, was flown to a Charlotte hospital, where he was in critical condition “fighting hard for his life”, said a cousin, Heather Smith Thompson.

South Carolina Shooting Report
Dr Robert Lesslie and his wife, Barbara were pronounced dead in their home along with two of their grandchildren (John D Simmons/The Charlotte Observer/AP)

York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson told a news conference that investigators had not yet determined a motive for Wednesday’s mass shooting.

“There’s nothing right now that makes sense to any of us,” Mr Tolson said.

At Thursday’s news conference, the sheriff played audio of two calls to police, the first from a heating company that employed Mr Lewis and Mr Shook.

One of the men, the caller said, had called him “screaming” and saying that he had been shot, and that his coworker was shot and “unresponsive”.

“I think there’s been a bad shooting,” a different man said in a second emergency call, saying he was outside cutting his grass and heard “about 20” shots fired at the Lesslie home before seeing someone leave the house.

South Carolina Shooting Report
The mass killing was allegedly carried out by former NFL player Phillip Adams (Nell Redmond/AP)

Mr Tolson said evidence at the scene led authorities to Adams as a suspect.

He said they went to Adams’s parents’ home, evacuated them and then tried to talk Adams out of the house. Eventually, they found him dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

Mr Tolson said both a .45-calibre and 9mm weapon were used in the shooting.

A person briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press earlier Thursday that Adams had been treated by Dr Lesslie, who lived near his parents’ home. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly.

South Carolina Shooting Report
Phillip Adams, shown during his time with the Atlanta Falcons, played for six teams in the NFL prior to his retirement (Mark Zaleski/AP)

Adams, 32, played in 78 NFL games over five seasons for six teams. He joined the 49ers in 2010 as a seventh-round draft pick out of South Carolina State, and though he rarely started, he went on to play for New England, Seattle, Oakland and the New York Jets before finishing his career with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015.

Rock Hill is a city in northern-most South Carolina about 25 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Adams’ father told a Charlotte television station that he blamed American football for problems that may have led his son to commit violence.

“I can say he’s a good kid,” Alonzo Adams told WCNC-TV.

“I think the football messed him up.”

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Jefferson Luiz Moraes' wife died after eating the Christmas cake

Husband of woman who died in 'Christmas cake poisoning' breaks silence after relative arrested for murders

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon

South Korea’s impeached president detained in martial law investigation

A burned car is seen among debris in the wreckage of a home destroyed by the Palisades Fire in Malibu

Fresh warnings as death toll from wildfires rises to 25

South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol speaks during the declaration of emergency martial law at the Presidential Office on December 03

Impeached South Korean president finally arrested for trying to impose martial law

Elon Musk is being sued for failing to disclose his purchase of Twitter stocks before buying the company in 2022, which ‘allowed him to underpay’ by at least $150m (£123m).

US sues Musk for failing to disclose Twitter stock holdings to buy platform at ‘artificially low prices’

Musk-Neuralink Explainer

Elon Musk sued over failure to disclose stocks before buying Twitter

Police officers stand in front of the gate of the presidential residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul

South Korean law enforcement officials enter presidential compound

The Les Arcs resort in the Savoie region in France.

British woman, 62, dies on mountain slope after ‘violent collision’ with another UK tourist

A VW van sits among burned-out homes in Malibu, California

‘It should have been toasted’: Retro blue VW van survives deadly LA wildfire

South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol speaks during the declaration of emergency martial law at the Presidential Office on December 03

South Korean standoff as police move in to arrest impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol for second time

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be defence secretary, appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington

Senators grill Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s choice for Pentagon chief

Search and rescue workers dig through the rubble left behind by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California

Southern California faces new wildfire warnings as winds regain strength

A new species of funnel-web spider has been discovered in Newcastle, Australia - even larger and more venomous than common Sydney funnel-web spiders.

New bigger and more venomous species of world’s deadliest spider found in Australia

Police and private security officers near an opening to a gold mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, where hundreds of illegal miners are trapped

Rescuers bid to bring out survivors among hundreds trapped in South African mine

Sevilla footballer Kike Salas has been detained by police

Spanish football star arrested over 'match fixing scam'

A red model house created by artist Mikael Genberg and scheduled to launch into space on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Wednesday

Swedish artist’s model house could soon find permanent home on Moon