CTE study of Phillip Adams, ex-NFL player accused of killing 6, to be released this week
A South Carolina coroner is expected to release details this week on brain test results for former NFL player Phillip Adams, who died by suicide after a mass shooting in April left six people dead.
The York County Coroner’s office will hold a press conference Tuesday in Rock Hill to discuss the findings of the study conducted on Adams’ brain, according to a press release.
Adams, 32, was the lone suspect in the fatal shooting at the York County home of prominent doctor Robert Lesslie. Sheriff’s Office officials say he killed Lesslie, 69-year-old Barbara Lesslie and two of their grandchildren, Adah, 9, and Noah, 5. Two HVAC workers at the Lesslie home that day, James Lewis and Robert Shook, were also fatally shot.
As The Herald previously reported, Adams’ family gave officials their approval to conduct a CTE test. CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a disease in the brain, brought on by “a history of repetitive brain trauma” in some individuals, such as athletes and military personnel, according to the Boston University CTE Center. York County Coroner Sabrina Gast announced in April that she sent Adam’s brain to Boston University to see whether the ex-football player had brain injuries or CTE.
Adams was found dead at his family’s home on Marshall Road in York County hours after the April 7 mass shooting.
Adams, a South Carolina native, played in the NFL for six years after a four-year career at S.C. State.
Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Boston University CTE Center, will join Tuesday’s press conference remotely, Gast said. McKee, who has played a key role in researching the disease, established the McKee CTE staging scheme to define severity in CTE.
Lawsuit request CTE study
The investigation into the shootings is ongoing, sheriff’s office officials told The Herald last week.
No charges were filed in the shooting at the Lesslie home because Adams killed himself, prosecutors with the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s office said.
In July, Shook’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the estate of Adams, federal court records show.
That lawsuit claims that Shook suffered pain and then death at the hands of Adams. The lawsuit also claims Shook’s wife and three children are entitled to damages from the killing.
Lawyers for Shook’s family have requested the materials from the CTE brain study done in Boston, court documents show. The family’s lawyers have also hired private investigators to determine where Adams got the gun used in the shootings, according to court filings.
That lawsuit remains pending in federal court in Columbia, according to court records.
The estate of Phillip Adams remains pending in York Court probate court, South Carolina court records reviewed last week by The Herald show. In those probate court filings, Adams had personal property worth $69,233 at the time of his death, records show.
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 3:40 PM with the headline "CTE study of Phillip Adams, ex-NFL player accused of killing 6, to be released this week."
