A former NFL player fatally shot a doctor, his wife, two of their grandchildren and another person before turning the gun on himself in a horrifying scene at a South Carolina home, according to the county coroner and sources.

Phillip Adams, who had stints with the Seahawks, 49ers, Raiders and Jets, opened fire at the home in Rock Hill late Wednesday afternoon, the York County Coroner and sources told The State.

Killed in the shooting was Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, his wife, Barbara Lesslie, 69, and two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.

Adams’ parents live near the doctor’s Rock Hill home and he was one of Lesslie’s patients, a source told the Associated Press.

A fifth victim, James Lewis, 38, who was working at the home at the time, was also fatally shot outside, WSOC-TV reported.

A sixth person, who was not immediately identified, was hospitalized with a serious gunshot wound, authorities said. The victim was also a maintenance worker at the Lesslie family’s home, sources told The Herald.

Lewis and the wounded person both worked for Gaston Sheet Metal Services in Gastonia and were doing work at the home, WSOC reported.

“Both men involved in this incident are long-standing, beloved members of our family at GSM,” the company said in a Facebook post. “These men embody the values we strive to achieve at GSM and are family focused, up-beat, and wonderful team members who are about all the people they encountered.”

“In the coming days, our focus is on helping these families and our team members cope with this tragedy.” 

Adams later died by suicide, the AP source said. He is believed to have killed himself as police surrounded a home near where the victims were found, sources told the Herald.

Investigators discovered the gunman’s body at a nearby home after an eight-hour manhunt, the sheriff’s office tweeted.

“There is no active threat to the community,” sheriff’s officials tweeted early Thursday.

Robert Lesslie had been practicing medicine in Rock Hill since 1981, according to his biography on Riverview House Calls & Riverview Hospice and Palliative Care, where he worked as the medical director. He’s survived by four children. He and Barbara Lesslie had been married for more than 40 years, The State reported.

Lesslie earned his degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and worked at facilities in Greenville and Charlotte, where he served as the chief resident at Charlotte Memorial Hospital. 

The board-certified emergency medicine physician also specialized in occupational medicine and had authored several books on his experiences with patients, including “Angels in the ER,” which sold more than 200,000 copies, according to his bio.

“Dr. Lesslie lives in Rock Hill with his wife, Barbara, and their golden retriever, Moses, several miniature horses, goats, donkeys, chickens and a lot of bees,” the bio continues. “They have four grown children and eight growing grandchildren. He enjoys golfing, traveling and bagpiping.”

“We are all shocked this could happen here in York County,” spokesman Trent Farris said. “This is a mass shooting. Normally you think of a movie theater or a mall, but we are treating this as a mass shooting because there were five victims killed.”

Faris noted how prominent Lesslie had been in the Rock Hill community.

“He was my doctor, if that says enough,” Faris told The State.

Sheriff’s officials tweeted Wednesday they were looking for a “young black male” wearing a hoodie and camouflage pants after the six victims were found.

Lesslie’s family is asking for privacy as they mourn, Faris said.

Adams, a defensive back, played in 78 NFL games before calling it quits after the 2015 season.

NFL officials acknowledged the mass shooting in a statement Thursday to The Post.

“Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims of this devastating tragedy,” the statement read.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/08/five-dead-including-two-kids-in-south-carolina-mass-shooting/

Photo Credit: AP

It was time for a major manicure for a Texas woman, who finally parted ways with her record-shattering 24-foot-long fingernails — which remained unclipped since the George H.W. Bush administration.

Ayanna Williams, of Houston, got her epic back scratchers sawn off with an electric rotary tool at the hands of Dr. Allison Readinger of Trinity Vista Dermatology in Forth Worth, the famous record book reported.

When she broke the Guinness World Record as the woman with the longest talons in 2018, her nails measured 18 feet, 10.9 inches – and she needed more than two bottles of polish and 20 hours to decorate them.

When she finally decided to have her prized possessions sliced off, the first time she cut them since the early 1990s, they measured an astounding 24 feet, 0.7 inches.

Along with the record-holding glory came many challenges for Williams, who struggled with common day-to-day tasks — such as doing the dishes and putting sheets on her bed — due to their prodigious length.

She said that she’s received lots of different reactions over the years from people who saw her claws, most of which were positive and supportive.  

“I have this thing that I do with children when they come up to me and they say ‘Are those your nails?!’” she said.

“And I say, ‘Yeah” and then I ask and I say, ‘How old are you?’ and they say, ‘I’m 10 or I’m 7’ and I say, ‘Guess how old my nails are? They’re like 28 – 29 years! They’re older than you!’” Williams said.

She said she’s very excited that her newly cut nails will be displayed at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in Orlando, Florida.

“With or without my nails, I will still be the queen. My nails don’t make me, I make my nails!” Williams said.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/08/woman-with-worlds-longest-nails-cuts-them-after-nearly-30-years/

Photo Credit: Guinness World Records

After years of not being able to find a buyer for her Saddle River mansion, Rosie O’Donnell finally caved and sold her home at a loss, The Post has learned. 

But the home’s next residents are already causing a stir in the tony neighborhood, home to the rich and famous, from rapper Ja Rule to singer Mary J. Blige.

The six-bedroom, nine-bathroom abode is expected to be demolished and turned into a series of affordable housing units per a landmark public court settlement with Fair Share Housing Center.

But the agreement has left its upscale residents outraged.

According to an unnamed source who lives in the area and was familiar with the proceedings, the borough had plans to comply with the affordable housing requirements in Saddle River. The requirements usually include sites that are 100% affordable.

However, in this case, local developers Saddle River Investors intervened, court docs show.

And their intervention only “added insult to injury,” the source said.

As part of a fair housing court settlement between the borough of Saddle River and the Fair Share Housing Center of NJ, the 5-acre lot that belonged to O’Donnell will be converted into 60 units — of which only 20% will be used for affordable housing.

Essentially, the source said, “the developer plans to segregate the units, instead of integrating them with the high density multi-family housing.” While there is no legal requirement that the units be integrated, residents say the current plan doesn’t sit well with them. Saddle River Investors has declined to comment on the matter. 

The insider explained that of the 60 units in the plan, “only eight are set for low and moderate income and the developer will stick the eight units in the back corner of the property instead of integrating, so everyone will know these are the homes saved for the poor.” 

The controversy calls to mind similar issues over affordable housing, such as the so-called “poor door” at the upscale Lincoln Square Tower in Manhattan.

“It’s a very complex issue,” another resident said. “Fair Share Housing decided to make Saddle River its example.”

Bergen County court records reveal the case — including the 20% affordable housing stipulation — was settled when the borough agreed to include O’Donnell’s property and two other neighboring properties that span 10 acres.

“It makes no sense and it’s creating a further divide between the wealthiest and the non [wealthiest],” they added. “There is not even public transportation here!”

O’Donnell, 59, sold the property at a $1 million loss for $5.3 million on March 17 after five years on the market, according to an insider. The actress, who is currently filming the new season of Showtime’s “The L Word,” first bought the home in 2013 for $6.3 million. 

O’Donnell currently resides in an $8 million, four-bedroom, three-bathroom luxury New York City penthouse in Midtown.

Her rep has not responded to The Post’s request for comment. 

New Jersey State Senator and former resident of Saddle River, Holly Schepisi, who now lives in a nearby town is also up in arms over the project. 

“The town itself is against [it] but they had no choice,” Schepisi told The Post, adding that the area may not be hospitable to those on a limited income.

“Everything is out of pocket here,” Schepisi said. “Pay out of pocket for sports, schools… how is somebody with very little income viable to live in this town?”

Anthony Campisi, communications rep at the Fair Share Housing Center told The Post that Saddle River had an “obligation to zone.” 

“It’s one of the most exclusive towns in the country,” Campisi explained. “Our role didn’t have to do with the sale itself. We negotiated a housing agreement and the town allowed the redevelopment on O’Donnell’s site. It is a prime piece of real-estate leverage for affordable housing.”

The home is currently pending a purchase by the Bergen County Borough through Saddle River Investors. Here’s a look at the space now at the center of debate in the community.

With the property spanning 9,173 square feet, the colonial home also included a separate full service year-round guesthouse with a dining room, living room/bedroom, two baths, laundry and kitchen. Other amenities of the home included a basketball court and an elevator.

The soon-to-be former estate featured an in-ground pool with a grotto waterfall, a plunge pool and a Jacuzzi spa.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/07/rosie-odonnells-nj-home-to-be-turned-into-affordable-housing/

Photo Credit: Realtor/nypost.com

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are taught to restrain combative suspects with a knee on their back or shoulders if necessary but are told to “stay away from the neck when possible,” a department use-of-force instructor testified Tuesday at former Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.

Lt. Johnny Mercil became the latest member of the Minneapolis force to take the stand as part of an effort by prosecutors to dismantle the argument that Chauvin was doing what he was trained to do when he put his knee on George Floyd’s neck last May.

Several experienced officers, including the police chief himself, have testified that Floyd should not have been kept pinned to the pavement for close to 9 1/2 minutes by prosecutors’ reckoning as the Black man lay face-down, his hands cuffed behind his back.

According to testimony and records submitted Tuesday, Chauvin took a 40-hour course in 2016 on how to recognize people in crisis — including those suffering mental problems or the effects of drug use — and how to use de-escalation techniques to calm them down.

Sgt. Ker Yang, the Minneapolis police official in charge of crisis-intervention training, said officers are taught to “slow things down and re-evaluate and reassess.”

Records show Chauvin also underwent training in the use of force in 2018. Mercil said those who attended were taught that the sanctity of life is a cornerstone of departmental policy and that officers must use the least amount of force required to get a suspect to comply.

Under cross-examination by Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson, Mercil testified that officers are trained to use their knee across a person’s back or shoulder and employ their body weight to maintain control.

But Mercil added: “We tell officers to stay away from the neck when possible.”

Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer “did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career,” and he has suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions are what killed him, not Chauvin’s knee.

In fact, Nelson sought to point out moments in the video footage when he said Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck.

Nelson showed Mercil several images taken from officers’ body-camera videos, asking after each one whether it showed Chauvin’s knee appearing to rest more on Floyd’s back, shoulder or shoulder blades than directly on Floyd’s neck. Mercil often agreed.

Nelson acknowledged the images were difficult to make out. They were taken at different moments during Floyd’s arrest, starting about four minutes after he was first pinned to the ground, according to time stamps on the images.

In other testimony, Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution use-of-force expert, said officers were justified in using force while Floyd was resisting their efforts to put him in a squad car. But once he was on the ground and stopped resisting, “at that point the officers … should have slowed down or stopped their force as well.”

Stiger said that after reviewing video of the arrest, “my opinion was that the force was excessive.”

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd, 46, was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A panicky-sounding Floyd writhed and claimed to be claustrophobic as police tried to put him in the squad car.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him sparked protests around the U.S. that descended into violence in some cases.

Instead of closing ranks to protect a fellow officer behind what has been dubbed the “blue wall of silence,” some of the most experienced members of the Minneapolis force have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s actions as excessive.

Chauvin had been certified to perform CPR, and Minneapolis Officer Nicole Mackenzie, who trains members of the force in medical care, testified Tuesday that department policy required him to start aid before paramedics arrived, if possible.

Officers kept restraining Floyd — with Chauvin kneeling on his neck, another kneeling on Floyd’s back and a third holding his feet — until the ambulance got there, even after he became unresponsive, according to testimony and video footage.

The officers also rebuffed offers of help from an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter who wanted to administer aid or tell officers how to do it.

Mercil testified that in his experience, it takes less than 10 seconds for someone to be rendered unconscious with a neck restraint. He said someone having a rush of adrenaline or a higher breathing or heart rate can be affected even faster.

“Have you have ever had a circumstance where an individual has lost their pulse and suddenly come back to life and become more violent?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked, suggesting that Floyd was held down long past the point where he might be a threat.

“Not that I’m aware of, sir,” Mercil replied.

via: https://pix11.com/news/national-news/police-official-chauvin-trained-to-avoid-neck-pressure/

Photo Credit: pix11.com

The family of a California man who died in a taco-eating contest is taking legal action against the event’s organizers — claiming their negligence led him to choke to death.

Marshall Hutchings, 18, alleges in a suit filed Monday that his father, Dana Hutchings, 41, was not made aware of the risks and danger associated with the competition at a Fresno Grizzlies game, the Fresno Bee reported

The elder Hutchings had not participated in any similar events before he entered the amateur competition on Aug. 13, 2019, at Chukchansi Park, the suit argues.

But he began choking and collapsed only minutes into the eating competition, the suit said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The coroner’s officer determined that his cause of death was choking.

Martin Taleisnik, who is representing the Hutchings family, argued that participants in professional eating competitions train and prepare their bodies for such events.

“But that is not always present in an amateur eating contest,” Taleisnik told the newspaper.

“The conductors of this event should have made the risks known to the competitors and taken steps to protect them.”

The suit is seeking unspecified damages from Fresno Sports and Events, the owners of the Fresno Grizzlies.

Fresno Sports and Events declined to comment, the newspaper reported.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/06/family-sues-after-california-man-dies-in-taco-eating-contest/

Photo Credit: Facebook