About 8:40 a.m. Wednesday, police led Hernandez out of his home in handcuffs. He was placed in a North Attleborough police car and driven away.
Massachusetts state police said they are not releasing the charge against Hernandez until he is presented to the court. Hernandez was booked at the North Attleborough police station and will be brought to Attleboro District Court for arraignment, state police said.
The arrest comes after days of speculation about the fate of Hernandez, who has been under investigation for a possible role in the slaying of a man last week.
Later Wednesday, the Patriots said that they had released Hernandez.
“A young man was murdered last week and we extend our sympathies to the family and friends who mourn his loss. Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation,” the team said in a statement. “We realize that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing. We support their efforts and respect the process. At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do.”
A Massachusetts State Police dive team spent an hour and a half searching the stream that appears to run along back of Hernandez’s house on Monday. Four officers wearing full body black dive suits searched the stream with metal detectors. It was unclear if anything was found.
A number of media outlets have reported over the past week or so that a warrant has been prepared to charge him with interfering with the investigation into the shooting death of the man who was dating his girlfriend’s sister.
On Saturday, police spent nearly four hours at Hernandez’s house Saturday, from 1:45 p.m. to about 5:30 p.m. Some officers carried paper bags of unidentified items out of the home. Two K-9 units also searched the house Saturday. Police searched the backyard, and searched and photographed Hernandez’s SUV. A locksmith also spent time in the house.
ABC News reported that Hernandez and the victim, Odin Lloyd, 27, a semi-pro football player, had been together at several nightclubs last weekend, including the night before Lloyd’s body was found less than a mile from Hernandez’s North Attleborough home.
Multiple reports say Hernandez destroyed his cellphone and his home security system, which might have provided video. Authorities were also investigating reports that Hernandez hired a crew to clean the home.
Reporters have set up camp in a vacant lot next door to Hernandez’s house.
Lloyd’s body was found in a vacant lot off John L. Dietsch Boulevard, an industrial park area. Lloyd, a semi-pro football player, reportedly left a club with two men, including Hernandez, late Sunday night or early Monday morning, but only two men returned to Hernandez’s home.
Reports indicate a jogger found Lloyd’s dead body at 5:30 p.m. June 17 and that a vehicle rented in Hernandez’s name was nearby. According to reports by SI.com, Lloyd died between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on June 17.
Boston’s Fox 25 News reported that neighbors heard shots fired between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. and that there was video surveillance footage showing Hernandez and two other men wearing hooded sweatshirts entering Hernandez’s home moments later. An hour before that, Hernandez was seen at Lloyd’s home.
The television station also reported that a hard drive to Hernandez’s home security system was heavily damaged and a cell phone destroyed.
The Boston Globe reported that video images show Hernandez and Lloyd together in Dorchester early Monday, hours before Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found.
Lloyd, 27, was a linebacker for the semi-pro Boston Bandits. There were indications that he was shot and the body dumped in the industrial park. Lloyd was dating the sister of Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez’s girlfriend and mother of his child, at the time of Lloyd’s death.
By Jenny Wilson, The Hartford Courant