More trouble for Aaron Hernandez. Authorities in Massachusetts have asked police in Gainesville, Fla., to reexamine whether Hernandez was involved in a 2007 shooting of two men. Meanwhile, news that a suspect in the Odin Lloyd homicide spoke with police the day before Hernandez's arrest suggests Hernandez may have been ratted out, Pro Football Talk reports.
Suspicions continue to grow that the ex-NFL player was involved in other violent crimes. Boston police are investigating whether Hernandez participated in an unsolved double murder from 2012, which might have been motive for killing Lloyd. Hernandez is also facing a lawsuit from a former friend who alleges the 23-year-old shot him in the face.
Authorities are now revisiting a 2007 double shooting in Gainesville that Hernandez had been questioned in, according to ABC News. Hernandez, at the time, was a 17-year-old freshman on the University of Florida football team.
Two men and a friend sat in their car at a stop light on Sept. 30, shortly after leaving a local nightclub. Suddenly the vehicle was fired upon, according to the police report obtained by ESPN. Corey Smith, then 28-years-old and sitting in the passenger seat, was shot in the back of the head. Justin Glass, the then 19-year-old driver, was wounded in the arm. Randall Cason, then 20-years-old and sitting behind the passenger seat, was uninjured.
Although multiple witnesses told police the shooter was a black male, Cason claimed two men were involved.
Cason told police the shooter was a "'Hawaiian' or 'Hispanic' male who had a large muscular build, stood about 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4, weighed about 230 or 240 pounds and had a lot of tattoos," ESPN's Kelly Naqi wrote on Wednesday.
Cason also said there was a black male with the shooter, whom he identified as Reggie Nelson, a Florida Gator alum then playing as a rookie for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Nelson denied his involvement to police, but did admit to being at the nightclub.
Cason told investigators that his brother had gotten into an argument with several Gator football players a week earlier. The argument was allegedly over Cason stealing a necklace from current NFL players Mike and Maurkice Pouncey, who were then playing college ball at Florida.
At the nightclub, Hernandez supposedly told Nelson about the chain snatch. Nelson told police he spoke with Cason about it, and the two parted on good terms.
Although Gainesville policeman Lt. Keith Kameg denied two days later that Hernandez or Nelson were suspects, authorities did attempt nine days after the shooting to interview Hernandez, who declined.
Because he was 17 at the time and considered a minor, his name was redacted from the police report. One reference to his name in the report, however, remained: detectives tried to speak to Hernandez on Oct. 9, but "he invoked his right to counsel."
According to the report, Cason "rescinded his identification of Aaron Hernandez and Reggie Nelson" on that same day. ESPN points out that it was the first time the report indicated Cason had, at some point, positively identified Hernandez as the shooter.
Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the prosecution's case against Hernandez is seemingly growing stronger. The North Attleboro Sun-Chronicle reported on Wednesday that Carlos Ortiz, a suspect in the Lloyd murder, had spoken to police on Tuesday, June 25 - the day before authorities arrested Hernandez.
The Sun-Chronicle's article is centered on Ortiz's visit to Hernandez's condo, but Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote on Wednesday that the timeline and the evidence against Hernandez suggested the police have a witness, and it's likely Ortiz.
"Last Wednesday, prosecutor Bill McCauley attributed to Hernandez during his arraignment statements Hernandez allegedly made to Lloyd in the car regarding Hernandez's disappointment with Lloyd and Hernandez's inability to 'trust' him," Florio wrote. "McCauley presumably felt compelled to show that specific card in order to establish some shred of motive, in the hopes of ensuring Hernandez would be held without bail.
"The prosecutors likely have many other cards. And it appears that Ortiz, who faces for now only weapons charges, is the one who was doing the dealing."
Hernandez plead not guilty to murder and five gun-related charges in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd; he's being held without bail while awaiting trial.
