Father of former NFL player who killed six in mass shooting sues university following son’s CTE diagnosis
Phillip Adams played cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers and played on five other NFL teams after leaving the University of South Carolina.
By Dianne Gallagher, CNN
The father of a former NFL player who killed six people, including two children, in a South Carolina mass shooting before killing himself, is suing the university where his son played football.
Alonzo Adams filed the wrongful death lawsuit in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, against South Carolina State University. His son, Phillip Adams, played football there from 2006 to 2009.
The lawsuit says Adams sustained head trauma while playing for the university. It also states Adams sustained head trauma while playing in the National Football League for six teams. The NFL teams are not named as defendants in the case.
The lawsuit alleges South Carolina State University did not maintain a safe environment and did not follow safety procedures or properly train its employees on “identifying, evaluating and properly treating” Adams and others with head injuries. The lawsuit also claims the university did not properly educate Adams on the lasting impact of concussions and head trauma in collegiate football.
The lawsuit alleges “negligence, carelessness, recklessness, willfulness, and wantonness” led to Adams’ death on April 8, 2021. Adams was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
Spokesperson Sam Watson told CNN South Carolina State University “cannot comment on pending or current litigation.”
On April 7, 2021, Phillip Adams shot and killed Dr. Robert Lesslie and his wife Barbara after forcing his way into their home in Rock Hill, South Carolina, along with their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah and 5-year-old Noah. Adams also killed two heating and air conditioning repairmen, James Lewis and Robert Shook, who were working outside the Lesslie home at the time. Adams took his own life at his parents’ home in the early hours of the morning after the murders.
In December 2021, a Boston University neuropathologist who examined Adams’ brain said the 32-year-old had “unusually severe” Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease linked to head injuries. Dr. Ann McKee said Adams had CTE pathology in both frontal lobes of the brain.
McKee said these are parts of the brain help control ability to think, judgment and impulse. “When you have frontal lobe pathology you may have rage behaviors, violent tendencies, depression, impulsivity — all sorts of things. And that’s, I think, what we saw in Phillip Adams,” said McKee.
The lawsuit was filed by Alonzo Adams on behalf of his deceased son’s estate, with the stated intent to benefit Phillip Adams’ son.
Alonzo Adams is seeking a jury trial and a sum of money to be determined by the court.
The-CNN-Wire
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