KILLER MAY HAVE BEEN SUFFERING FROM CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY

Ex-NFL pro who killed 6 in South Carolina was ID’d by phone dropped at scene 

 

By Natalie O'Neill

 

New York Post

April 23, 2021

 

Phillip Adams with inset photo of Dr Robert Lesslie and his wife Barbara Dr Robert Lesslie,

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/04/08/gunman-who-murdered-doctor-and-his-family-then-killed-himself-was-ex-nfl-star-phillip-adams-14378508/?ito=cbshare

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The ex-NFL player accused of killing six people in a South Carolina home was quickly identified by cops — because he left his cell phone at the scene, according to search warrants released Friday.

Former Atlanta Falcons cornerback Phillip Adams — who allegedly gunned down Dr. Robert Lesslie and five others before taking his own life April 7 — dropped his iPhone, clad in a red case, at the prominent physician’s Rock Hill home, according to an affidavit from the York County Sheriff’s Office.

The flub allowed police to trace the phone’s registered number to the former pro athlete, then get a warrant to search his parents’ home, which is located a mile from Lesslie’s abode, the affidavit states.

When police arrived at Adams’ parents’ house, they found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, officers said in the report.

Police later found “numerous notebooks … with cryptic writing with different designs and emblems” in his bedroom, according to the affidavit.

“Detectives had also learned that Phillip Adams had been acting differently and possibly following a new religion or ideology,” the document says.

Officers found several guns along with ammunition and some medicine bottles in the room, too, authorities said. 

Adams, 32, killed Lesslie along with his wife, Barbara, and two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie, police said. He also fatally gunned down two air-conditioning technicians working at the Lesslie home, James Lewis and Robert Shook, authorities said.

His motive is still unclear, but Adams had been treated by the prominent emergency-room physician before the attack, according to a person briefed on the investigation.

Adams’ brain is now being examined for a possible concussion-related degenerative disease that has been shown to cause violent mood swings in some athletes and members of the military.

Adams played pro football briefly for the New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks.