Police: Ex-NFL player kills 5, then himself
ROCK HILL, S.C. — Former NFL player Phillip Adams fatally shot five people, including a prominent doctor, his wife and their two grandchildren before killing himself early Thursday, authorities said.
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson told a news conference that investigators hadn’t determined a motive for Wednesday’s mass shooting.
“There’s nothing right now that makes sense to any of us,” Tolson said.
Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, and his wife, Barbara, 69, were pronounced dead in their home in Rock Hill 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, of Gaston, was found shot to death outside. A sixth victim, Robert Shook, 38, of Cherryville, N.C., was flown to a Charlotte hospital, where he was in critical condition “fighting hard for his life,” said a cousin, Heather Smith Thompson.
At Thursday’s news conference, Tolson played audio of two 911 calls, the first from the HVAC company that employed Lewis and Shook. One of the men, the caller said, had called him “screaming” that he’d been shot and that the other man also had been shot and was “unresponsive.”
“I think there’s been a bad shooting,” a different man said in a second 911 call, saying he was outside cutting his grass and heard “about 20” shots fired at the Lesslie home before seeing someone leave the house.
Tolson said evidence at the scene led authorities to Adams. He said they went to Adams’ parents’ home, evacuated them, then tried to talk Adams out of the house. Eventually, they found him dead of a gunshot wound to the head.
Tolson said both a .45-caliber and 9 mm weapon were used in Wednesday’s shooting.
A person briefed on the investigation said Adams had been treated by Lesslie, who lived near his parents’ home.
Lesslie worked for decades as an emergency room doctor, board-certified in both emergency medicine and occupational medicine and was the emergency department medical director for nearly 15 years at Rock Hill General Hospital, according to his website.
He and his wife had four children and nine grandchildren and were actively involved with their church, as well as with Camp Joy, which works with children with disabilities and where Lesslie was camp physician for a week each summer. On Thursday, Tolson said the family had asked that any memorials be made to the camp.
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.
Adams’ father told a Charlotte television station he blamed football for his son’s problems.
“I can say he’s a good kid — he was a good kid, and I think the football messed him up,” Alonzo Adams told WCNC-TV.