Oakland Raiders cornerback Phillip Adams Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Father of former NFL player suing following 2021 mass shooting, cites CTE

Originally posted on Sportsnaut | By Vincent Frank | Last updated 4/14/23

Former NFL player Phillip Adams killed six people, including two children, in a mass shooting in April 2021 before killing himself.

A seventh-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers back in 2010, Adams played college ball at South Carolina State before turning pro.

Two years after the mass shooting, Adams’ father, Alonzo, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the college in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, claiming that it did not do enough to prevent brain damage while his son played in college.

Per CNN, the lawsuit claims that South Carolina State did not properly train its employees on “identifying, evaluating and properly treating” head injuries.

Shortly after his death, Phillip Adams was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It’s a disease that leads to brain degeneration due to repeated blows to the head. Several former NFL players have been diagnosed with it posthumously.

“The symptoms of CTE include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, and, eventually, progressive dementia. These symptoms often begin years or even decades after the last brain trauma or end of active athletic involvement,” Boston University Research Center on CTE.

As for Phillip Adams, he last played in the NFL as a member of the Atlanta Falcons back in 2015. In addition to suiting up for the 49ers and Falcons, Adams played with the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, then-Oakland Raiders and New York Jets throughout his career. None of those teams were mentioned in the lawsuit.

This article first appeared on Sportsnaut and was syndicated with permission.

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