SC family of ex-pro football player who killed 6 adds NFL to suit over brain injury

The family of former NFL player Phillip Adams, who killed six people outside Rock Hill before killing himself in 2021, added the NFL to a wrongful death suit over his alleged brain injuries from football, court documents show.

The lawsuit that added the NFL and NFL Properties Inc. as defendants was re-filed this week in Orangeburg County civil court, where Adams played college football at S.C. State University. S.C. State is also a defendant in the lawsuit originally filed in 2023, but denied wrongdoing in legal documents.

Phillip Adams was from York County and lived with his parents at the time of the killings. The lawsuit was filed by Adams’ father on behalf of Adams’ minor son, court documents show.

The lawsuit claims the NFL failed to exercise care for Adams. The NFL “knew or should have known that it was engaging in activity detrimental to the safety of Phillip Matthew Adams when Defendants knew or should have known such conduct would result in harm,” the lawsuit states.

Efforts to immediately reach an NFL spokesperson were unsuccessful Friday afternoon. Court records showed the NFL hasn’t been served with the lawsuit. In South Carolina, defendants have 30 days to respond in writing to a lawsuit once they are served.

Adams, who was 32 at the time of his death, played for the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons.

The lawsuit claims Adams suffered head trauma while playing in the NFL from 2010 through 2015.

The Herald has also reached out to the lawyers for Adams’ family but has not received a response.

What happened in 2021 mass shooting?

York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said in April 2021 Adams shot and killed Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara Lesslie and two of their grandchildren, Adah, 9, and Noah, 5. Two HVAC workers at the Lesslie home that day — James Lewis and Robert Shook of North Carolina — also died after being shot.

Suspect in killing of 5 in York County was former NFL player from Rock Hill, sources say

Adams lived with his parents nearby at the time. Adams killed himself that night at his family home, the sheriff said.

A doctor in Boston said after examining Adams’ brain that the former football player suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. It’s a brain condition caused by repetitive head trauma, and sometimes found in former football players.

Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Boston University CTE Center, said in a December 2021 news conference in Rock Hill that Adams had “stage 2 CT.” McKee said Adams’ “frontal lobe pathology” was “abnormally severe.”

In the news conference, McKee said Adam’s brain showed extensive damage when it was examined after his death — the only time such a determination is possible.

“His 20 years of football gave rise to his CTE,” McKee said in 2021.

Check back for updates on this story.

Charlotte Observer reporter Alex Zietlow contributed reporting.