NFL Player Phillip Adams Kills 5, Then Himself In South Carolina
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Authorities in South Carolina say former NFL player Phillip Adams killed five people, including a prominent doctor, his wife and their grandchildren, before killing himself. A motive is unknown.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In York County, S.C., people are trying to make sense of the killings of a well-known doctor and four other people. The county sheriff says a former professional football player shot them, then later killed himself. David Boraks of WFAE in Charlotte has more.
DAVID BORAKS, BYLINE: The shootings happened late Wednesday afternoon at the home of Dr. Robert Leslie in a rural area about 30 miles south of Charlotte. A neighbor who called 911 said he saw a man running away. Sheriff's deputies searched for hours before finding Adams early yesterday at his parents' home nearby, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot. Here's York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson.
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KEVIN TOLSON: There's nothing about this right now that makes sense to any of us, and that's why we're working so hard to try to get more information.
BORAKS: The sheriff says Adams went to Dr. Leslie's home armed with two pistols. He shot and killed the 70-year-old doctor, his wife and two grandchildren, ages 9 and 5. Also killed was an air conditioning technician working in the home, found shot to death outside, and another worker was hospitalized in critical condition. The 33-year-old Adams was a defensive back until 2015 for the Atlanta Falcons. He also played in New York, Seattle, Oakland and San Francisco during a career in which he suffered multiple concussions. His father, Alonzo Adams, speaking to TV station WCNC, wondered if that had anything to do with it.
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ALONZO ADAMS: He's a good kid. He was a good kid. And he - I think the football messed him up. You know, I don't think he ever did anybody any harm.
BORAKS: Sheriff Tolson called Dr. Leslie, quote, "a pillar of the community" in Rock Hill, S.C., and said he had seen Dr. Leslie as a patient himself. Leslie was an emergency room doctor and the author of 12 books, including "Angels In The ER" with inspiring stories about doctors, nurses and patients. He founded a well-known medical clinic and was medical director for Winthrop University, and he was a regular at First ARP Church in Rock Hill, where Jon Oliphant is associate pastor.
JON OLIPHANT: We are heartbroken over the tragic loss of these four church members that we loved so deeply and cared about. And our hearts go out to others - the other victims and to the family of the one who did this horrible thing.
BORAKS: The sheriff says they're still searching for a motive, but there's nothing in Adams' background to help understand why this happened.
For NPR News, I'm David Boraks in York County, S.C.
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