Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in his prison cell, prison officials report.
Guards found Hernandez, 27, hanging in his cell around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts.
Officials say Hernandez ripped a bed sheet to form a noose around his neck and tied it to a window in his cell.
He was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial-HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster about an hour later.
Hernandez was housed in a single cell at the maximum security prison.
Last week, he broke down and cried when a jury acquitted him of murder in the 2012 shooting deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston.
He was already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2013 shooting of Odin Lloyd, who was dating his fiancée’s sister.
Hernandez leaves behind his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, and their 4-year-old daughter, Avielle Hernandez.
#AaronHernandez trial: Heartbreaking scene as 4-year-old daughter shows up to court https://t.co/w2VzDxowDh pic.twitter.com/PYcjsv9MgV
— Cathy (@courtchatter) April 13, 2017
Hernandez blew a kiss to Jenkins and Avielle before being escorted from the courtroom back to prison on April 12.
“We are aware of the reports, but I don’t anticipate that we will be commenting today,” a Patriots spokesman told ESPN on Wednesday morning.
President Trump will meet with the NFL champion New England Patriots team at the White House today, April 19. Several players declined President Trump’s invitation.
Photos by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images, Jim Rogash/Getty Images
