An autopsy revealed Phillip Adams had Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he killed six people and fatally shot himself in April.
Neuropathologist Ann McKee said in a statement released by the Concussion Legacy Foundation that an examination of Adams’s brain revealed Adams had Stage 2 CTE, with Stage 4 being the most severe stage of the degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive impact to the head.McKee said that among the NFL players who died in their 20s and 30s whose brains her center has studied, most had Stage 2 CTE, which is associated with “progressive cognitive and behavioral abnormalities.
On April 7, Adams, 32, killed six people in his hometown of Rock Hill, S.C. The victims included four members of what authorities described as a “very prominent and very well-known” family in the Rock Hill community: Robert Lesslie, a 70-year-old doctor; his wife, Barbara Lesslie, 69; and two grandchildren, Adah, 9, and Noah, 5. Two HVAC technicians who were working on the Lesslies’ home — James Lewis and Robert Shook, both 38 — were also killed.
In the wake of the killings, authorities did not reveal a motive or a connection between Adams and the victims.“As we process these results, we are deeply saddened by the events that occurred on April 7 and we continue to pray for the families of the victims,” Adams’s family said in Tuesday’s statement. “We are pleased to have a better understanding of the mental turmoil that Phillip was dealing with during the last moments of his life.
Adams, a seventh-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers out of South Carolina State in 2010, played in 78 NFL games for six teams over six seasons as a defensive back. CTE, which can only be diagnosed at autopsy, has been found in former football players, members of the military, boxers and others who have been subjected to repeated head trauma. A 2017 study by the BU center
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