Hernandez kept guns in basement, police say

An associate of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez told authorities that the athlete stored guns in the basement of his North Attleborough home soon after the shooting death of Odin L. Lloyd, said a police affidavit made public Friday.

A State Police affidavit to support a request to search the electronic devices of a Connecticut woman linked to the case, was filed in Attleboro District Court and obtained by the Associated Press.

Hernandez is charged with killing Lloyd, of Dorchester, whom prosecutors believe was fatally shot June 17 with a .45caliber handgun. A murder weapon i s being sought. Hernandez pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

In the new filing, State Police said that Carlos Ortiz, who faces a weapons charge, told investigators Hernandez put multiple firearms in a “black box located in the basement” when they returned from the area where Lloyd was shot. The filing did not specify the types of guns Hernandez allegedly stored. His lawyers could not be reached Friday.

Last week, officials released photographs taken from the home surveillance system in the Hernandez home that appeared to show him holding a gun. Prosecutors said the images depicted him soon after Lloyd’s killing.

Earlier this week, authorities conducted an exhaustive search for evidence in a lake in Bristol, Conn., Hernandez’s hometown, which came up empty.

A third man, Ernest Wallace, 41, is charged as an accessory after the fact of Lloyd’s death. Authorities believe that the Connecticut woman mentioned in the new filing helped Wallace travel to Florida “and evade apprehension,” the affidavit said. Wallace turned himself in to police in Miramar, Fla., on June 28.