The Back Alley Archives

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was questioned by police investigating a possible homicide in this town 40 miles south of Boston. A source with knowledge of the investigation said Massachusetts State police spoke to Hernandez on Monday and were interested in possibly searching his home.

Hernandez is not believed to be a murder suspect, according to a source, but a vehicle rented in his name has emerged as a key piece of evidence in the investigation. The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, Mass., reported on Tuesday that police identified a rented 2013 Chevrolet Suburban with Rhode Island license plates in connection with the possible homicide. According to the paper, the vehicle is registered to Enterprise and investigators were hoping to analyze it for fingerprints. A source said Hernandez's name is tied to that rental vehicle.


A jogger found the body of a 27-year-old Boston man on Monday in an North Attleboro clearing, less than a mile from Hernandez's home.
A North Attleboro police car idled in front of Hernandez's home on Tuesday, parked across the street from two television news vans. Yasmina Serdarevic, a spokesperson for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, declined comment on Tuesday afternoon when contacted by SI.com.


A source close to Hernandez acknowledged a connection between the player and the case, but would not elaborate. Athletes First, Hernandez's agency, declined comment when contacted by SI.com. Hernandez has consulted with a lawyer, who did not return a call from SI.com.


A fourth-round pick in the 2010 draft, Hernandez was named to the Pro Bowl in his second season. Last season he caught 51 passes and scored five touchdowns for the Patriots.


Shortly after 7 p.m., several police cruisers arrived at Hernandez's home, with one blocking the driveway. About 10 Bristol county state police detectives and a few regular state police entered the house. Two males attempted to leave the house and questioned the blocking of the driveway. After several minutes they were taken separately away by police but weren't handcuffed.

Alexander S. Bradley, a Connecticut resident, claims in court filings that Hernandez fired a gun at him -- either intentionally or by gross negligence -- destroying Bradley’s right eye and causing extensive damage requiring multiple surgeries “to reconstruct his face.”


Now disfigured, Bradley has become “substantially disabled,” and will need medical care for the rest of his life, the lawsuit says.


Police in Florida investigated the incident at the time, but Bradley did not name Hernandez as the shooter and investigators closed the case without filing charges.

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According to police reports on the incident filed with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, authorities responded to 3635 Fiscal Court in Riviera Beach about 7 a.m. Feb. 13 and discovered Bradley, 30, lying behind a John Deere store with apparent gunshot wounds to his head and right hand. Staff at an area hospital later told police that Bradley had been shot in the right temple and had lost his right eye, said one of the reports.


Bradley repeatedly told police he did not know who shot him and said the assailants were Hispanic and black males, the reports state.


Kevin Riddle, manager of the John Deere store, told police that he and an employee heard a single gunshot shortly after 6:30 a.m., and he later saw Bradley lying outside in a fetal position, bleeding from the head with his eyes swollen shut. Bradley begged for help: “Tell them to hurry – I’m gonna bleed out.” Bradley also told Riddle he did not know who shot him, saying: “I’m done talking – it hurts too bad.”


Bradley was “extremely uncooperative” with police on the way to the hospital and was “very rude and uncooperative” with hospital staff as well, one of the reports said. He refused to cooperate with investigators, prompting them to close the case.

The investigator, and other law enforcement sources, confirmed that the security system - which included video surveillance - was smashed intentionally.


And a cell phone used by Hernandez was handed over to investigators "in pieces'' by his attorneys, the sources said.


Police also want to know why a team of house cleaners were hired on Monday to scrub Hernandez's mansion, sources told ABC News.

When Hernandez was at UF, he was once questioned, along with three other Gator football players, about a shooting in Gainesville. None of the players were arrested, but detectives questioned Hernandez in the shootings of Corey Smith and Justin Glass about 2:30 a.m. after Florida lost to Auburn in 2007. According to a Sentinel report at the time, police said Smith, 28, and Glass, 19, were driving around in traffic about 2:30 a.m. when a man began shooting into their car. Smith was critically wounded in the head while Glass was shot in the arm.

Hernandez declined to discuss the case with reporters back then and was never charged with any crime.

However, when Hernandez first enrolled at UF, he was arrested as a 17-year-old juvenile after an altercation at local campus hangout known as The Swamp. Hernandez received deferred prosecution.

The prosecutor said that workers at the industrial park heard gunshot wounds, and that surveillance cameras allow prosecutors to piece together that the car Hernandez was driving was at the industrial park, and within minutes thereafter at Hernandez’s home.

The prosecutor said that Hernandez’s surveillance system shows a person getting out of the car with a gun after the shooting, and walking through the house with the gun. Shortly after that, the surveillance system shuts down.

Perhaps most importantly, the prosecutor said a shell casing was found in the car rented by Hernandez. It matches the shell casings found at the scene of the shooting, according to the prosecutor.

Aaron Hernandez was locked and loaded 4 years before his current alleged murder predicament ... and he made sure to capture the gun-toting moment on camera.

TMZ has obtained this photo ... showing a 19-year-old Aaron brandishing a Glock handgun for a selfie iPhone pic. You can see a magazine inserted into the gun, but it's unclear if it was loaded.

We've learned the pic was taken in Gainesville, Florida in 2009 ... the same time Hernandez was playing football for the University of Florida.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/26/aaron-her ... z2XN0QJDTo

Shortly after the arrest, Hernandez’s number 81 jerseys were pulled from the shelves of the Patriots Pro Shop at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. His name was also removed from the roster on the team’s web site.