DJ Hernandez, the older brother of Aaron Hernandez, was arrested on July 18. Hernandez had been accused of planning a mass shooting, with a woman who lived with Hernandez claiming that he had spent time scouting the campuses of UConn and Brown. Hernandez played for UConn between 2005 and 2007 and for Brown in 2010 and 2011. Furthermore, prior to his arrest, Hernandez had been posting increasingly concerning comments on social media. "Will I kill? Absolutely," one post read in part. Hernandez had previously been arrested in March after throwing a bag of bricks onto the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut, where Hernandez also lived.
Following the reports from a woman who lived with Hernandez about his planning mass shooting, police moved to apprehend Hernandez. According to the Bristol PD, Hernandez emerged from his home and repeatedly asked the police to shoot him. Additionally, he later had been incapacitated using a stun gun after threatening to kill the on-scene officers. While being transported to a hospital, Hernandez reportedly told officers he planned to kill anyone who had "profited" from his brother. Aaron Hernandez, who took his own life in 2017, played for the University of Florida before joining the New England Patriots.
Hernandez Arrest Video Confirms Suicide By Cop Plea
TMZ has since released the bodycam footage taken during Hernandez's arrest. Hernandez is seen approaching officers with hands raised and can be heard repeatedly saying "shoot me." Hernandez is then shot with a taser as he continues to walk towards the arresting officer. As he is being restrained, Hernandez says "It's not fair, no one listens. I don't do this shit. Dude, I need your help." It's unclear what Hernandez is referring to in that moment.
UConn said in a statement that it determined at the time that there was "no known imminent threat" while Brown issued a statement saying they had no record of Hernandez returning to the campus in recent weeks. As for the next steps, Hernandez will appear in court on August 1. He is facing charges including threatening, breach of peace and failure to appear in court. The latter of those charges stems from a July court date Hernandez skipped in relation to the ESPN incident. Currently, Hernandez is being held in lieu of a $250,000 bond.
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