Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015, has committed suicide.
According to prison officials, Hernandez hanged himself via a bed sheet while inside his cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Massachusetts.
The 27-year old was just acquitted in a double murder case a few days ago.
His attorney even stating at the time that he believed Hernandez would also see his previous murder conviction overturned.
But it seem apparent that Hernandez did not agree with this assessment.
“Mr. Hernandez was in a single cell in a general population unit.
“Mr. Hernandez [hanged] himself utilizing a bed sheet that he attached to his cell window,” a representative for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections said in a statement.
Added this rep:
“Mr. Hernandez also attempted to block his door from the inside by jamming the door with various items.”
Prison sources say that Hernandez was discovered at 3:05 a.m. on Wednesday morning; those who came across his body tried to save his life at the time.
He was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m.
State Police are investigating the suicide and his family has been notified of what transpired.
Department of Corrections spokesman Christopher Fallon said Hernandez was not on a suicide watch because there was no indication he was considering harming himself.
He had not shown the typical signs of someone considering this course of action.
“If he had made any kind of statement, he would have not been in that unit,’’ Fallon told reporters.
He went on to say that investigators are poring over Hernandez’s cell in Unit G-2, yet thus far have not found anything that resembles a suicide note.
In April of 2015, Hernandez was found guilty by a jury of his peers of first degree in the death of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd.
The former NFL star was also found guilty on gun and ammunition possession charges, receiving an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole at the time.
In an e-mail, Patriots spokesman Stacey James wrote that the team (who is actually visiting the White House on Wednesday in celebration of this year’s Super Bowl win) was aware of the death of their former tight end.
“We are aware of the reports, but I don’t anticipate that we will be commenting today,’’ James wrote.
Last Friday, Hernandez was found not guilty for the double murder of two men on a Boston street in 2012.
About a year earlier, however, he received his sentence in the Lloyd murder case.
The victim was a former friend who dated the sister of Hernandez’s longtime fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins; he was shot numerous times by the same kind of gun security footage showed Hernandez possessed.
After the double murder verdicts were read late last week, Hernandez turned to Jenkins and mouthed, “I love you.”
“I am very, very happy,” she later told the press of what had been decided in the courtroom that day.
Hernandez was the father of a four-year old girl with Jenkins and played for the Patriots from 2010 through 2012.