Phillip Adams Had Severe C.T.E. at the Time of Shootings

Also: Ex-NFL player Phillip Adams had CTE at time of rampage that killed 6, doctors say (NBC News)

DU thread from April: former NFL player kills his physician and the physician's family

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Source: New York Times

Phillip Adams Had Severe C.T.E. at the Time of Shootings

A neuropathologist found an “unusually severe” form of the brain disease in the 32-year-old former N.F.L. player who killed six people in April before shooting himself.

By Jonathan Abrams
Dec. 14, 2021
Updated 2:00 p.m. ET

The posthumous brain examination of Phillip Adams, a 32-year-old retired journeyman N.F.L. player who shot and killed six people in April, revealed that he had an “unusually severe” form of C.T.E., a degenerative brain disease found in athletes and others with a history of repeated hits to the head.

Dr. Ann McKee, director of the C.T.E. Center at Boston University, said an examination of Adams’s brain showed significantly dense lesions in both frontal lobes, an abnormally severe diagnosis for a person in his 30s that most nearly resembled that of Aaron Hernandez, a former New England Patriots tight end who was 27 when he died by suicide after being convicted of a 2013 murder.

Adams killed six people in Rock Hill, S.C., his hometown, before barricading himself in his family home and fatally shooting himself. The victims included Robert Lesslie, a prominent local physician; his wife, Barbara; and two of their grandchildren, Adah, 9, and Noah, 5. Adams also killed two air-conditioning technicians, James Lewis and Robert Shook, whom he confronted at the Lesslies’ house.

The police in York County, S.C., said on Tuesday that their investigation had not yielded any connection between Adams and the Lesslies, and there was no documentation showing that Adams was the doctor’s patient.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/sports/football/phillip-adams-cte-shootings.html

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Source: NBC News

Ex-NFL player Phillip Adams had CTE at time of rampage that killed 6, doctors say

The six-year NFL veteran suffered multiple injuries and concussions in his career.

Dec. 14, 2021, 11:30 AM -04 / Updated Dec. 14, 2021, 2:26 PM -04
By Marlene Lenthang

Former NFL player Phillip Adams had stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, when he allegedly gunned down six people before taking his own life in April in South Carolina, officials announced Tuesday.

Boston University’s Dr. Ann McKee, who conducted the examination on Adams' brain tissue, said in a news conference Tuesday that Adams' CTE was “unusually severe in both frontal lobes" and may have contributed to his “behavioral abnormalities.”

CTE is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head traumas that can only be diagnosed after death, according to the Mayo Clinic.

CTE has been found in the brains of people who have played football and other contact sports and possible symptoms include cognitive, behavioral and mood changes.

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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-nfl-player-phillip-adams-cte-time-south-carolina-rampage-killed-rcna8593