An autopsy on the former NFL player accused of a mass shooting in South Carolina earlier this year which killed six people is likely to result in greater attention around an issue which has dominated the headlines regarding the sport in recent years: CTE.
According to the Associated Press, the autopsy on Phillip Adams revealed “unusually severe” brain trauma in the frontal lobe of the ex-player’s brain, consistent with what is known as chronic traumatic encepahlopathy, or CTE. This brain condition is degenerative, and according to an expert at Boston University who was interviewed by the wire service, results in behavior issues such as memory loss, depression and paranoia at the level Adams is said to have had it, stage two.
Police allege Adams killed a South Carolina doctor, his wife, two of their grandchildren and a pair of heating repairmen working at the doctor’s home in April. The former player was then found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The sport has worked hard in recent years to eliminate a lot of hits and other physical contact involving the head area, but today’s news is likely to increase interest in this subject as sport and medical officials assess this as part of their much larger examination of these issues.
Adams spent six years in the NFL having played almost 80 games for six teams, reported the AP, including the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets and the then-Oakland, now Las Vegas Raiders.
