The former NFL player who killed five people in a murder in South Carolina on Thursday will be posthumously examined for a degenerative brain disease associated with football head trauma and irrational behavior, a new report reads.
The Phillip Adams family has given doctors the green light to test for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, a condition commonly associated with footballers, reports The Charlotte Observer.
The office of the coroner ‘s office in York County, South Carolina will conduct the test in collaboration with Boston University, where a 2017 study found that most soccer players suffered from the disease.
The results could last up to six months, the newspaper reported.
Adams, 32, forced him to his former doctor’s home on Thursday, killing him, his wife and their two grandchildren.
The athlete also fatally shot a contractor outside the doctor’s house before killing himself.
Adams’ six years in the NFL have been marred by injuries. In his 2012 season with Oakland, Adams allegedly suffered two concussions during a three-game team.
Dr Hallie Zwibel, the director of the New York Institute of Technology’s Center for Sports Medicine, told The Post on Thursday that Adams may have developed CTE during his career.
‘He could have had hits all along [and] only liquidated with only one or two concussions, but the cumulative hits he received are so many that it could have caused him to develop a degenerative brain disease, ”said Zwibel.
Zwibel said the illness could possibly help explain what led Adams to do the bloody rampage.
‘It affects people to a great extent in their ability to enjoy relationships and friendships, to really function in the world. “Understandably, they become very frustrated with the shortcomings they have,” said Zwibel.
‘People become more impulsive and reckless in their behavior. They become emotionally unstable, “he added.