A .38-caliber pistol seized from a car driven by a Bristol woman after a June 21 crash in Springfield is part of an investigation into a case that involves Aaron Hernandez, according to a law enforcement source.
The source did not specify the case for which the gun was seized as evidence.
CBS 3 in Springfield reported Monday that the gun seized from the multi-vehicle crash in June was connected to a double homicide in Boston in July 2012.
Police in June found a car, rented in Hernandez’s name, that matched the description of the vehicle sought in the 2012 case, a drive-by shooting. No charges have been filed as a result of that investigation.
Hernandez, who grew up in Bristol, faces a first-degree murder charge in the June 17 shooting death of Odin Lloyd. The weapon used in that crime, which authorities say is a .45-caliber Glock pistol, has not been recovered.
Diaz-Ramos was charged with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and three firearms-related charges. She told authorities a man named “Chicago” and his “buddies” — whom she described as football players — had put belongings in her trunk. According to the arrest report, police also seized a locked safe from the trunk of the car.
Police found the car sought in the Boston double homicide during a search of a Bristol home owned by Hernandez’s uncle. A law enforcement source said the car, a silver SUV with Rhode Island plates, had been parked in the garage for about a year.
Authorities have conducted three searches of the home at 114 Lake Ave., which Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, the two other suspects charged as a result of the Lloyd investigation, both used as an address. A cousin of Hernandez’s who lived at the home, Tanya Cummings-Singleton, has been held at a Massachusetts correctional facility since Aug. 1 because she refused to testify before a grand jury convened in the case.
Hernandez, 23, was arrested in late June and refused bail after a prosecutor accused him of “orchestrating the execution” of Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Pre-trial hearings for Wallace and Ortiz are scheduled for next week.
Wallace, 41, who was charged with accessory after the fact to murder, is scheduled to appear in court in Attleboro, Mass., on Monday.
The next scheduled appearance for Ortiz, 27, who faces an illegal firearms charge, is Aug. 29.
By Jenny Wilson and Don Stacom, Hartford Courant