MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Authorities on Monday asked the public to provide surveillance footage and sought details from eyewitnesses as they investigate the fatal shooting of an Ole Miss freshman football player in a Memphis neighborhood after a pool party.
Corey Adams, an 18-year-old defensive lineman from New Orleans, was found with a gunshot wound inside a vehicle at an intersection in the Memphis suburb of Cordova on Saturday night, said Anthony Buckner, chief deputy of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. Adams died at the location of the shooting.
Four other men, who suffered gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, arrived at nearby hospitals in personal vehicles. Three of them had been released from the hospital as of Monday afternoon, Buckner said.
The shooting happened after a pool party attended by about 100 people, including Adams, Buckner said during a news conference. About 40 rifle and pistol casings were found at the shooting scene.
No arrests have been made. Buckner asked members of the public who might have information useful to investigators, including surveillance footage from video cameras at neighbors’ homes, to come forward.
“We have far more questions right now than we have answers,” Buckner said. “We know people saw something or heard something.”
Adams, who played at Edna Carr High School in New Orleans, is listed on the Ole Miss football website as a 6-foot-4, 235-pound defensive end. He had been one of the top defensive lineman recruits in the country.
Adams’ mother, who spoke at the news conference but declined to be named for fear of retribution, said Adams was a loving son and brother who had hopes of playing in the NFL. Adams had time off from practice and went to Memphis to enjoy himself, she said.
Memphis is about 85 miles north of Oxford, Mississippi, where Ole Miss is located.
The Edna Karr Cougars wrote in a Facebook post that “words can’t describe this type of pain.”
“Corey Adams was more than a football player! He was a friend, brother, son, student, and all around great young man,” the team’s post read. “We never question God but this is one we just don’t understand.”