Former 49ers and Raiders cornerback Phillip Adams was identified as the gunman who killed five people including a prominent doctor in South Carolina, then killed himself early Thursday, a source told the Associated Press.
The source, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said Adams’ parents live near the doctor’s home in Rock Hill, S.C. and that he had been treated by the doctor. The source said Adams killed himself after midnight with a .45 caliber weapon.
The York County Sheriff’s Office said they had searched for hours before finding the suspect in a nearby home.
The 32-year-old Adams had a nomadic NFL career as a defensive back, playing for six different teams in six years while serving almost exclusively as a backup. He was drafted by the 49ers in 2010 as a seventh-round pick from South Carolina State. The Rock Hill native played for the Raiders from 2012-13.
Adams appeared in 15 games as a 49ers rookie before sustaining a broken ankle and getting cut prior to the 2011 season. He was cut and signed a total of eight times by three different teams during a three-month period in 2011, while playing six games with the New England Patriots and one with the Seattle Seahawks that season.
Adams, who also spent time with the New York Jets (2014) and Atlanta Falcons (2015), suffered a number of injuries in the NFL, including multiple concussions. While with the Raiders, Adams suffered two concussions over three games near the end of the 2012 season. He returned a week after his second concussion to face Carolina in Week 16, but then suffered a season-ending groin injury.
He was arguably the Raiders’ best cornerback on their last-place 2012 team that went just 4-12. Adams had a career-best two interceptions and five passes defensed in 2012. Adams wound up playing 31 of his 78 NFL games with Oakland, which was more than twice as many as he played with any other team.
The York County coroner’s office said Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, and his wife, Barbara Lesslie, 69, were pronounced dead at the scene in South Carolina along with grandchildren Adah Lesslie, 9, and Noah Lesslie, 5.
A man who had been working at the home, James Lewis, 38, from Gaston, was found shot to death outside, and a sixth person was hospitalized with “serious gunshot wounds,” York County Sheriff’s Office’s spokesperson Trent Faris said.
Faris said deputies were called around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday to the Lesslies’ home, and spent hours searching for the suspect before finding him in a nearby home.
“We have found the person we believe is responsible and we are with him at this time and that’s all I can say about the suspect,” Faris said.
The investigation is ongoing, he said.
“Dr. Lesslie was my doctor growing up,” Faris said. “Dr. Lesslie has been one of those people that everybody knows. He started Riverview Medical Center in Rock Hill and it’s been a staple in Rock Hill for years.”
A biography page of Dr. Lesslie said he and his wife of 35 years raised four children. He had been practicing medicine in Rock Hill since 1981, according to the Riverview website. He received his degree at the Medical University of South Carolina and has worked in the surrounding Rock Hill area and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rock Hill is a city in northernmost South Carolina about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Adams is the second former Oakland Raiders player to be responsible for the murders of multiple people.
Former Raiders star defensive lineman Anthony Smith is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 for the killing of three men in Southern California years earlier.
___
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.
