Aaron Hernandez (AP)
EVIDENCE: Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez (inset) appears to be brandishing a gun in a newly unsealed surveillance photograph made on the day his friend was slain. (
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Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez is seen in surveillance images holding a gun just before and after his friend was shot to death in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home.
The images, taken from the former New England Patriot’s home-surveillance system, are included in more than 100 pages of legal records released yesterday by Attleboro District Court.
The photos have been described in court by prosecutors, but this is the first time the images have been seen publicly.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semiprofessional football player whose body was found on June 17 a mile from Hernandez’s home.
Lloyd had been shot five times.
Four pictures show Hernandez in his North Attleborough, Mass., home holding a gun shortly after Lloyd was killed, an affidavit said.
Two other photos show what authorities say is Hernandez in his living room a few hours before Lloyd’s killing, also holding a gun.
Authorities believe Lloyd was killed with a .45-caliber Glock, which has not been recovered.
The gun Hernandez is holding in the surveillance video appears to be a Glock, prosecutors said.
Authorities recovered an ammunition clip for .45-caliber bullets in Hernandez’s Hummer vehicle as well as ammunition of the same caliber in a condo he rented in Franklin, Mass.
The previously sealed documents were released after several media organizations, including The Associated Press, filed motions seeking access, and Judge Daniel O’Shea agreed Wednesday that the documents are public records.
Defense attorneys have objected to the unsealing of the records, saying it is “undermining” their client’s right to a fair trial.
Hernandez is being held without bail.
Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated Lloyd’s killing because the NFLer was upset at Lloyd for talking to people with whom Hernandez had problems at a nightclub a few days earlier.
They say Hernandez and two associates, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, drove with Lloyd to a North Attleborough industrial park.
Authorities have not said who fired the shots, but documents filed in Florida portray Hernandez as the triggerman.
According to the records, Ortiz told police that Wallace said Hernandez fired the shots.
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