Ex-NFL star Phillip Adams kills five people before turning gun on himself
Former NFL player Phillip Adams fatally shot five people, including his doctor, his doctor's wife and their two grandchildren before killing himself, authorities confirmed on Thursday.
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson also revealed investigators had not determined a motive for the mass shooting Wednesday.
“There’s nothing right now that makes sense to any of us,” Tolson told a news conference.
Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, and his wife, Barbara, 69, were pronounced dead at the scene along with grandchildren Adah, 9, and Noah, 5, the York County coroner’s office said.
Investigators also found a fifth victim dead outside the property, now named as James Lewis, 38, who had been doing work at the house at the time of the incident.
33-year-old Adams played in 78 NFL games over five seasons.
His first stint in the NFL was with the San Francisco 49ers in 2010.
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.
A witness who lives opposite Adams' home said a vehicle pulled into the driveway of his property before law enforcement quickly surrounded the property.
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She said they spent hours negotiating with Adams, using a loudspeaker and sending in a robot to scan the house before Adams shot himself.
“This is something I can’t grasp yet. I can’t put it all together and I’m trying to, and I witnessed it,” the witness said.
“I feel bad for him because if it was mental or something going on in his life or whatever, you know, he needed help, and that’s the sad part.”
Adams’ father told a Charlotte television station that problems he picked up during his football career may have led him to commit the fatal attack.
“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.
“He didn’t talk much and he didn’t bother nobody.”
Adams' agent, Scott Casterline, told the AP he spoke regularly with Adams' father, who left him a voicemail before the shooting.
"He was part of my family. I loved him. He's a great kid, a great guy. This is so unlike him. He had to not be in his right mind, obviously," Casterline said.
"All of us who knew Philip are shaking our heads. He struggled away from the game. I tried to get him to come to Texas. I was going to find him a job, but he wouldn't leave South Carolina because he had a son. He was a good father."
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