December 23, 2013: Former New England Patriots NFL football player Aaron Hernandez is led into his court appearance at the Fall River Superior Court in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo)
A newly-released search warrant contains evidence into why police and prosecutors in Massachusetts believe former NFL tight end Aaron Hernandez is linked to a 2012 double murder in Boston.
The Hartford Courant reports that police suspect Hernandez was in a silver SUV that circled a city block waiting for the victims to get in their own car before the drive-by shooting early on the morning of July 16, 2012 near the Cure Lounge. Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado were killed by the gunfire.
Earlier in the evening, surveillance footage showed Hernandez and Alexander Bradley -- who would later accuse the former New England Patriots star of shooting him in the eye this past February -- inside the club.
It is not clear what connection the victims had to Hernandez and the document, filed in Bristol County (Mass.) Superior Court and released Tuesday, gives no evidence of any possible motive or even that Hernandez pulled the trigger. However, the warrant does reveal that a security supervisor at another Boston nightclub, Rumor, tipped off police that the shooting was related to the death of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player whom Hernandez is accused of murdering this past June.
In a phone call, the Courant reported, Sharif Hashem told authorities that a patron of Rumor "accidentally spilled the beans in front of me." The tip, combined with authorities noticing Hernandez on the club's surveillance footage, led to authorities focusing their investigation on him. Since then, authorities have found what they believe to be the murder weapon used in the shooting, as well as a silver SUV that was used by Hernandez.
Security footage from the night of the 2012 shooting shows Hernandez and Bradley entering the club right behind the victims before leaving 10 minutes later after a couple of drinks. Footage from a nearby parking garage shows Hernandez driving away. Approximately an hour later, as Abreu and Furtado left the club, the SUV can be seen slowly circling the block near the sidewalk.
Hernandez is awaiting trial on first-degree murder and weapons charges in the murder of Odin Lloyd.
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