23-year-old US American football star Aaron Hernandez, has been dropped from the New England Patriots after being formally charged with the murder of a fellow player, 27-year old Odin Lloyd, whose murdered corpse was found last week at a Massachusetts industrial estate.
Written by Chris White
The suspected murderer was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning and held at a police station where today he was formally charged with the murder, as well as several firearms offenses.
Prosecutors claim that Lloyd died of multiple, non-self inflicted gunshot wounds, whereas prosecutor presiding Bill McCauley told reporters that surveillance footage taken from Hernandez’s home showed the player leaving on the evening of Lloyd’s murder, with a handgun.
Mr. Lloyd’s family members claim that Lloyd and Hernandez were knew each other intimately and shared sisters as spouses.
According to police Hernandez and two others picked Lloyd up from his home at 02:30am local time (06:30am GMT) and entered into heated discussion with Lloyd in the car, wherein he claimed to be upset about an event which occurred at a nightclub days earlier.
Minutes before workers at the industrial estate where Lloyd’s murdered corpse was later found heard gunshots, Lloyd’s phone entered into a text message exchange with Lloyd’s sister, after only an hour of having been originally picked up by Hernandez.
The text conversation read:
Lloyd’s phone: “Did you see who I am with?”
Lloyd’s sister: “Who?”
Lloyd’s phone: “NFL”
Lloyd’s phone: “Just so you know.”
In a separate incident Hernandez is currently being sued by a man who claims the football star shot him in the face last February. Criminal charges against Hernandez were dropped after the alleged victim Alexander Bradley, who lost an eye in the incident, after Bradley refused to cooperate with Florida police.
The American Football League has described the arrest and charging of Hernandez as “deeply troubling”. The charges come just as the league is attempting to distance itself from a spate of criminal investigations involving dog fighting, gambling, homicide and other similar criminal acts.
If Hernandez goes to jail he will be giving up a US$40 million (£26 million) 5 year contract renewal which he signed last year.
Hernandez denies the charges.
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