2021 Rock Hill shooting

On April 7, 2021, six people were shot and killed at a house in Rock Hill, South Carolina, by Phillip Adams, a former NFL cornerback who lived nearby. Adams killed four members of the Lesslie family — Robert Lesslie (70), his wife Barbara Lesslie (69), and their grandchildren Adah (9) and Noah (5) — at their home, as well as two HVAC repairmen, James Lewis (38) and Robert Shook (38), who were servicing the house's HVAC unit. Robert Lesslie was a local doctor known for founding urgent care centers, writing a medical column, and volunteering at Camp Joy, a center for children with disabilities. Lewis and Shook were technicians for GSM Services of Gastonia, North Carolina, and each had three children.

Adams left his home on an ATV with two guns and his phone, shot Lewis and Shook outside the Lesslie residence, then went inside and shot the four family members. Police received two 9-1-1 calls around 4:45 p.m., one from Shook describing what had occurred. Roughly three dozen shell casings and more than twenty projectiles were recovered at the scene, fired from a .45 caliber and a 9mm handgun. Shook, though critically wounded, survived initial transport to a Charlotte hospital but died several days later after multiple surgeries; he had been shot at least six times, with a fatal wound to his liver.

Police found Adams' dropped cellphone at the scene, quickly identifying him as a suspect, and launched a manhunt using drones and a helicopter. He was located at his parents' house around 9 p.m. Officers negotiated with him for several hours; his parents were evacuated and a robot was used to scan the residence. Adams was found dead inside at 2:30 a.m. from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with the .45 caliber handgun.

The York County Sheriff's Office stated it could not determine a motive; Adams had no prior criminal record, though he had prior arrests — for assault and battery in 2009 and for carrying a concealed weapon in 2016 — neither of which resulted in conviction. An autopsy conducted with researchers at Boston University found Adams had stage II chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), with unusually severe damage to his frontal lobes, a condition linked to repeated head injuries during his football career, including at least two concussions sustained while playing for the Oakland Raiders in 2012. Ann McKee of the Boston University CTE Center said Adams' brain damage was comparable to that of Aaron Hernandez, a former NFL player convicted of murder. Adams' family said he had experienced declining mental health, memory problems, and resentment toward the NFL after failed disability claims in the years before the shooting.

President Joe Biden referenced the shooting in remarks on gun violence, and South Carolina's state senate adjourned in the victims' memory. In December 2021, Robert Shook's widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Adams' estate. In April 2023, Adams' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against South Carolina State University alleging negligence related to his CTE, later seeking to add the NFL to the suit in 2024.