A outstanding native physician, his spouse and their two younger grandchildren were among those killed Wednesday in a shooting at their house in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
The suspected gunman was recognized as former NFL participant Phillip Adams, who later killed himself, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson mentioned in a press convention Thursday. Police mentioned they discovered the suspect late Wednesday in a close-by house after an hourslong manhunt.
Adams’ dad and mom reside close to the physician’s house. Neighbor Allison Hope mentioned she noticed police encompass the home and spend hours negotiating with Adams utilizing a loudspeaker. She mentioned police requested Adams to return out and promised to get his disabled mom out safely, earlier than Adams shot himself.
‘It would not occur right here’:Former NFL player Phillip Adams named as suspect in deadly shooting, reports say
A fifth individual working on the family’s house was additionally discovered dead, and a sixth individual was injured.
Here’s what we all know:
Who are the victims?
Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, Barbara Lesslie, 69, and their grandchildren Adah Lesslie, 9, and Noah Lesslie, 5, had been pronounced dead on the scene, in keeping with the York County coroner’s workplace.
James Lewis, 38, was discovered dead outdoors. Lewis was working on the house on the time, police mentioned.
The sixth sufferer is Robert Shook, who’s in very vital situation, Tolson mentioned. He is an worker of GSM Services, the HVAC firm the place Lewis was additionally employed.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who attended Rock Hill High School, mentioned he and his spouse had been shut buddies with the Lesslies.
“To know the Lesslie family is to love them,” Norman tweeted. “Through the a long time, they made such an unimaginable influence on our space and the lives of numerous folks — greater than they may have ever identified.”
Who was Dr. Robert Lesslie?
Lesslie practiced in the realm since 1981 and based Riverview House Calls & Riverview Hospice and Palliative Care, in keeping with its web site.
He labored in emergency rooms for many years, together with as medical director of the emergency division at Rock Hill General Hospital for nearly 15 years, in keeping with an internet site bio.
“Dr. Lesslie has been one of those people that everybody knows,” mentioned Trent Faris, York County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, in a press convention.
Lesslie based two pressing care facilities in the realm and was additionally an writer and columnist. For seven years, Lesslie wrote a weekly medical column for the Charlotte Observer, and his 2008 e book, “Angels in the ER,” informed the tales of ER sufferers and employees. When requested as soon as if he actually consider angels roamed the ER, he responded on Facebook.
“Those of us who have been privileged to work in the ER, those of us who have been able to care for people when their lives are slipping away, and to stand with loved ones in the moment of their greatest uncertainty, fear, or grief, and to rejoice when a life is saved, know that we are not alone,” he wrote.
The physician was additionally supervising doctor and medical director at Winthrop University in Rock Hill for greater than 25 years. In an announcement, the college’s president George W. Hynd referred to as Lesslie a “caring professional who touched lives and left our campus a better place” and thanked him for serving to Winthrop’s COVID-19 response group.
“We simply would not have been able to successfully open and provide on-site quarantine and isolation support if it were not for Dr. Lesslie,” he mentioned.
Lesslie and his spouse have 4 youngsters and eight grandchildren, in keeping with an internet site bio. They lived in Rock Hill, South Carolina with their golden retriever, a number of miniature horses, goats, donkeys and chickens. He loved {golfing} and bagpiping.
Lesslie was additionally an energetic member of and served as an elder at a neighborhood church in Rock Hill, his bio states. There, he and his spouse taught Sunday faculty and sang in the church choir. They additionally labored with Camp Joy, an outreach program for folks with disabilities. He loved mentoring highschool and faculty college students contemplating careers in drugs.
At Camp Joy, the place he volunteered for greater than 20 years, Lesslie would spend every week each summer season serving as camp doctor, in keeping with Brent Turner, govt director of the group that oversees the camp.
Lesslie and his spouse, who served as Bible trainer, at all times labored on the camp in Flat Rock, nestled in the North Carolina mountains. They made the summer season visits a family affair, bringing their youngsters and grandchildren as fellow volunteers.
“They loved the campers with their whole hearts,” Turner informed The Greenville (S.C) News. “They were the most serving, Christ-loving people that I know. They served with a passion. … Our camp family knows their whole family, including their grandchildren, and we are just heartbroken.”
After the shooting, Robert Lesslie’s web site administrator posted on his Facebook web page with phrases that Lesslie had written in his e book:
“One day, when I depart this body and find myself in the presence of the Lord, my time, however it will be measured, will be filled with the praises and the wonder of Jesus,” he wrote. “I know that I will once again be able to hug my mother and walk and talk with my father. There are a lot of people I want to see as well — family and friends, grandparents, some of whom I never met on this side.”
“We have no idea what Heaven will look like, only that it will be perfect,” he continued. “I will find myself walking with Barbara in a field of lush, green grass, surrounded by gently rising conifer-cloaked hills.”
Who was the fifth sufferer?
James Lewis, 38, was pronounced dead on the scene by York County Coroner Sabrina Gast. Lewis, from Gastonia, North Carolina, was working on the house on the time of the shooting, in keeping with an announcement by Gast.
A single father of three, Lewis labored as an HVAC technician for GSM Services. His dad and mom, Tom Lewis and Linda Tucker, moved to Gastonia from Michigan to be nearer to Lewis, their solely little one, and his youngsters – a 16-year-old boy and 12-year-old twins.
“He was my best friend,” Tom Lewis mentioned.
“I keep on expecting to wake up. ‘Oh, that was just a bad dream.’ It’s not. It’s real,” he added.
James Lewis was additionally in woodworking, fishing and shooting sports activities. He had simply begun rebuilding a trailer earlier than his dying, his father mentioned.
“He was such a great man. He was doing so much. He helped out with river clean-ups. He helped anybody he could,” Tucker mentioned. “The kindest guy and a great dad.”
Learn more about the victim: Parents of mass shooting victim from Gastonia react
What can we find out about Phillip Adams, the suspect?
The suspect was recognized by Tolson as former NFL participant Phillip Adams, a defensive again who performed in 78 video games over six years in the league.
Adams, 32, was drafted in the seventh spherical in 2010 by the San Francisco 49ers and went on to play for them and 5 different groups, ending his profession in 2015 with the Atlanta Falcons.
Breaking down Phillip Adams’ NFL profession: ‘I think the football messed him up,’ says Adams’ father
He starred at South Carolina State, the place he performed cornerback, however suffered a number of accidents throughout his professional profession, together with a extreme ankle damage and two concussions in three video games in 2012.
Adams’ sister, Lauren Adams, informed USA TODAY that he was once laid-back however his character modified abruptly a few years in the past and he grew to become argumentative.
“His mental health degraded fast and terribly bad. There was unusual behavior,” she said. “We definitely did notice signs of mental illness that was extremely concerning, that was not like we had ever seen. And it was not the person that we knew.”
Lauren Adams said two weeks ago her brother talked about his resentment toward the NFL in its handling of his disability claim and his belief the league was making it difficult for him to collect on the claim.
“I think he got upset about that and that’s kind of where it started, with him kind of feeling like the whole world was against him,” she said. “We just started to notice a huge change and you could tell talking to him that something was not right.”
Phillip Adams’ parents live near the doctor’s home, and he has been treated by the doctor in the past, a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly told the Associated Press.
Adams’ former agent, Scott Casterline, told the AP his client tended to keep to himself as a player and after his career ended.
“We encouraged him to explore all of his disability options and he wouldn’t do it,” Casterline added. “I knew he was hurting and missing football but he wouldn’t take health tips offered to him. He said he would but he wouldn’t.
“I felt he was lost without football, somewhat depressed.”
Casterline and former Cowboys cornerback Kevin Smith, who used to coach Adams, mentioned the retired defensive again had opened a store promoting smoothies and juice earlier than the pandemic hit, and emphasised he didn’t drink or use medication.
“This is just shocking,” Smith said. “Recently, our only communication was through Instagram and he was real short. He didn’t say a whole lot. That was just him. He was such a good kid. I didn’t see mental issues outside of the fact that his pride was a double-edged sword. What drove him, all the hard work, also worked against him.”
Contributing: Nikie Mayo, The Greenville News; Gavin Stewart and Joe L Hughes II, The Gaston Gazette; The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or observe her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
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