Police said the suspect, Phillip Adams, was discovered dead in a nearby home.
Five people are dead, including a physician and two of his classmates, following a shooting in a house in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Wednesday afternoon, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect, 32-year-old Phillip Adams, was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a nearby residence, the York County Sheriff’s Office said.
He had been drafted by San Francisco in the seventh round out of South Carolina State at 2010 and played as a reserve defensive back for five teams in six years from 2010 to 2015.
The victims had been identified as Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70; his wife, Barbara Lesslie, 69; his mommy, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie; and James Lewis, 39, who had been working at the house in the time he was shot, police said.
A sixth man was also shot and survived, officials said.
Lewis and the living victim — that had been in critical condition Thursday morning — were air-conditioning techs who were found shot by their job vans, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson stated.
Robert Lesslie was a well-known physician in Rock Hill, ABC Charlotte affiliate WSOC reported. He spent many years working in emergency rooms in the Charlotte region, based on his web site biography.
The sheriff stated,”Dr. Lesslie was a pillar in this community.”
“He’d treated me in the past,” he said.
Robert Lesslie and his wife had four children and five grandchildren, his website biography said.
The Lesslie family said in a statement,”We’re truly in the middle of the unthinkable. The losses we’re suffering cannot be uttered right now.”
The family said,”If you would like to do something for your family, Adah and Noah would want you to stock the free pantries and libraries in your area. Barbara and Robert would want you to be good stewards of what it is you are given, leaving every area better than it was before you got there.”
The York County Coroner’s Office said Adams was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a nearby house on precisely the exact same road as the Lesslies, following a standoff.
“We did regain evidence in the scene that connected Mr. Adams to this area definitively,” Tolson said at a news conference Thursday.
A motive hasn’t been determined, Tolson said.
“There is not anything relating to this right now which makes sense to some of us,” the sheriff said.
Rock Hill is approximately 26 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman stated Robert and Barbara Lesslie were his close friends.
“Through the decades, they made this incredible effect on our region and the lives of millions of people,” Norman said in a statement.
“It is not possible to imagine the despair the extended Lesslie family must be feeling,” he said.
Joel and Steven Long, co-owners of GSM Services, the company which used Lewis and the guy who was shot and survived, said in a statement,”Our team at GSM Services is heart broken.”
“Both guys involved in this event are long-standing, beloved members of our household at GSM. These guys embody the values we work to achieve at GSM and therefore are family focused, up-beat, and fantastic team members who cared for all the people they encountered,” the Longs said. “In the coming days, our focus is on helping those families and our staff members cope with this tragedy.”
