The brain of Phillip Adams – the former NFL player who according to police killed a doctor in South Carolina, three family members and a repairman before he fatally shot himself – will be tested for a degenerative disease that affected a number of pro-athletes, and according to the local coroner it appears to be causing violent mood swings and other cognitive diseases.
York County coroner Sabrina Gast said in a statement Friday that she had received approval from the Adams family that the procedure could be included as part of his autopsy, which will be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina. The hospital will work with Boston University, whose chronic traumatic encephalopathy center is researching the long-term effects of recurrent brain trauma in athletes and military personnel, according to its website.
According to police, Adams went to the home of Robert and Barbara Lesslie on Wednesday and shot them, two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie, and James Lewis, a 38-year-old. year-old air conditioning technician from Gaston who worked there. He also shot Lewis’s colleague, 38-year-old Robert Shook, of Cherryville, North Carolina, who was flown to a Charlotte hospital, where he was in critical condition and “fought hard for his life.” , said a cousin, Heather Smith Thompson. .
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said investigators did not find out why Adams carried out the attack.
Tolson said testimony left at the shooting scene led investigators to suspect Adams. He said they went to Adams’ parental home, evacuated them and then tried to persuade Adams to come out. Eventually, they found him dead from a single gunshot wound to the head in a bedroom, he said.
It will take months before results are available from the tests for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which can only be diagnosed at an autopsy. The disorder was found in former members of the military, soccer players and boxers and others who have been subjected to repeated head trauma. In a recent study, signs of the disease were found in 110 of 111 NFL players whose brains were examined.
A few years ago, the league agreed to pay $ 1 billion to retired players who claim it is misleading them about the dangers of football.
Adams, 32, has played six seasons in 78 NFL games. He joined the 49ers in 2010 as a seventh-round draft pick from the state of South Carolina, and although he rarely started, he played for New England, Seattle, Oakland and the New York Jets before pursuing his career. at the Atlanta Falcons. in 2015.
As a rookie late in the 2010 season, Adams suffered a serious ankle injury, which led to an operation that inserted several screws into his leg. He never played for the 49ers again, released just before the 2011 season began. Later, with the Raiders, he had two concussions over three games in 2012.
It was not immediately clear if he sustained long-term concussion injuries. Adams would not be eligible for Tests as part of a broad settlement between the league and his former players over such injuries, as he had not retired by 2014.
Adams’ father told a television station in Charlotte that he blamed football for problems his son had and which could have led him to commit Wednesday’s violence.
“I can say he’s a good kid – he was a good kid, and I think football messed him up,” Alonzo Adams told WCNC-TV. “He did not talk much and did not bother anyone.”
Adams’ sister told USA Today that her brother’s “mental health has deteriorated rapidly and terribly in recent years” and that the family has noticed signs of mental illness “extremely worrying”, including an increasing mood and neglect of personal hygiene.
In a statement to McClatchy Newspapers, Adams ‘parents and siblings sent their condolences to the Lesslie, Lewis and Shook families, saying:’ The Phillip we know is not a man capable of the atrocities he committed on Wednesday. did not commit. ‘
The family members further said that they do not know “whether football plays a role” in the violence, but “we do know that there must be a catalyst.”
Gerald Dixon, a former NFL linebacker who retired in 2001, said the young player was a team leader, but also gentle and humble when he coached Adams in high school.
Dixon added that he spoke to Adams a few months ago and noticed no signs of depression or other mental health issues. “Every time I talked to him, he was always happy and he just remembered old things,” he said.
Dixon admitted that the repeated hits of the head that were scored in the game could have affected Adams, as it negatively affected many of the other NFL players who knew Dixon and were later diagnosed with CTE.
“You never know what’s going on in a person’s mind after going through this concussion,” Dixon said.
Agent Scott Casterline told The Associated Press that Adams did not participate in the physical and mental health programs that are easily accessible to former players.
“We encouraged him to explore all of his disability options, and he would not do that,” Casterline said. Adams’ career was undermined by the ankle injury in 2010. “I knew he hurt football and missed football, but he would not take health tips offered to him. He said he would, but he did not want to.”