Former NFL player Aaron Hernandez hangs self in Massachusetts prison cell
BOSTON — Aaron Hernandez, former New England Patriots football player, was found hanged to death in his prison cell in Massachusetts early today, the State Corrections Department reports.
Authorities discovered the 27-year-old Hernandez at 3:05 a.m. in his single cell in the correctional center in Shirley, Massachusetts, hanging from a bed sheet tied to the cell’s window, the cell door jammed shut from the inside with various items.
He was taken to a nearby hospital in Leominster, Massachusetts, where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m. Wednesday.
The suicide announcement came five days after a Boston jury acquitted Hernandez on Good Friday in the drive-by shooting murders of two men he had encountered in a night club in 2012.
The double murder charges were brought against Hernandez after he had been convicted of the shooting murder of an associate, Odin Lloyd, in 2013, in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, near his home and the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the Lloyd murder.
Hernandez played three seasons with the Patriots as a valued tight end. He signed a five-year contract worth $40 million with the team in August of 2012. The Patriots dismissed him from the team upon his arrest in August of 2013 in the Lloyd murder case.
Hernandez’s death occurred the same day the Patriots visit the White House to mark their remarkable win in February’s Super Bowl. Team spokesman Stacey James said the Patriots were aware of the reports of Hernandez’s suicide but didn’t anticipate the club commenting on it Wednesday.
A native of Bristol, Connecticut, he played college ball at the University of Florida, helping the team win a national championship under coach urban Meyer.