Pats’ Hernandez charged with first-degree murder
ATTLEBORO, Mass. — New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested and charged Wednesday with murdering a friend a few days after they got into a dispute at a nightclub.
Hernandez was taken from his home in handcuffs Wednesday morning, more than a week after Boston semipro football player Odin Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez’s home. Soon after his arrest, the Patriots announced they had cut Hernandez from the team.
Lloyd was a 27-year-old semipro football player for the Boston Bandits. His relatives said he was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee, that the two men were friends and that the men were out together on the last night of Lloyd’s life. He was shot multiple times in the back and chest, authorities said.
Hernandez was charged with murder and weapons counts.
In court, prosecutors described a killing borne out of a dispute at a Boston nightclub on the night of June 14, but they didn’t say exactly what Lloyd did to anger Hernandez.
Hernandez and two friends picked up Lloyd at home at 2:30 a.m. on June 17, Asst. Dist. Atty. Bill McCauley said. Surveillance footage from Hernandez’s home shows him leaving earlier with a gun, McCauley said. He also told someone in the house that he was upset and couldn’t trust anyone anymore, the prosecutor said.
After picking up Lloyd, Hernandez said he was upset with Lloyd because Lloyd had spoken with people Hernandez had trouble with during their outing to the nightclub, McCauley said.
After that conversation, Lloyd texted his sis- Aaron Hernandez stands with his attorney, Michael Fee, during his arraignment. ter, “Did you see who I am with,” the prosecutor said. When his sister asked who, he answered at 3:22 a.m., “NFL,” then, a minute later, “Just so you know,” he said.
Between 3:23 a.m. and 3:27 a.m., people working the overnight shift at the industrial park reported hearing gunshots, McCauley said. It’s not clear who investigators believe fired the shots.
The judge ordered Hernandez held without bail.
DEVELOPMENT
Browns rookie charged: The Cleveland Browns have released a rookie who is charged with attempted murder for allegedly punching a man in the head outside a club in northern New Jersey.
Ausar Walcott turned himself in to Passaic police Tuesday after he was identified as a suspect in an incident that happened around 3 a.m. Sunday.
The linebacker was signed by the Browns on May 13 following a tryout. The team announced his release Wednesday.
Walcott, 23, is charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree aggravated assault and third-degree endangering an injured victim, said Salvatore Bellomo, a senior assistant prosecutor.