Aaron Hernandez’s brother arrested for plotting two school shootings
Police say Dennis DJ Hernandez is ‘gravely disabled and a danger to society’
The brother of former NFL tight end Aaron Hernandez has been arrested after he allegedly threatened to kill a woman and plotted shootings at the University of Connecticut and Brown University, according to authorities.
Dennis DJ Hernandez, 37, was tased by police officers after allegedly telling officers “shoot me” when they surrounded his home on 19 July, according to an arrest report from the Bristol Police Department obtained by CT Insider.
The report described Mr Hernandez, who is in custody at the Hartford Correctional Center on $250,000 bail as “gravely disabled and a danger to society”.
In May, Mr Hernandez was arrested after allegedly leading police on a car chase during a suspected bipolar episode. He was arrested again that month after allegedly throwing a brick through the window of ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
Mr Hernandez’s ex-girlfriend told police that he took her car to attend a 7 July court appearance, but instead drove to UConn’s Storrs campus and Brown in Providence, Rhode Island, where he “went into a number of classrooms and buildings” to “map the schools out,” the arrest warrant states.
Text messages obtained by police also indicated he was planning to kill a woman he had previously been in a relationship with and was “coming for her family” as well, according to the arrest warrant.
On 19 July, Mr Hernandez allegedly posted threatening message to social media, saying: “Will I kill? Absolutely. I’ve warned my enemies so pay up front.”
Police arrived at a home where Mr Hernandez was believed to be staying that day, and ordered him to come out.
He allegedly told officers he was “on foot, armed, and that if we approached him, he would kill us all”, according to the report.
When he eventually came outside, Mr Hernandez advanced towards officers yelling “shoot me”, and ignored police commands, an officer alleged.
Officers tased him and arrested him, before taking him to hospital.
Police said Mr Hernandez continued to make threats at the hospital, saying he would “kill anyone who profited off of his brother Aaron,” and mentioned ESPN specifically.
He was charged with threatening and breach of peace and is due to appear in court on 1 August.
Aaron Hernandez, a former star tight end for the New England Patriots, killed himself in prison in 2017 at the age of 27 after being convicted of the 2013 murder of Odin L. Lloyd.
He was later found to be suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain trauma increasingly common among athletes involved in contact sports.
After Dennis Hernandez’s arrest, UConn released a statement to WTNH say there was “no known imminent threat” to the college. Mr Hernandez played four seasons for UConn’s football side from 2004 to 2007.
Brown University said in a statement that they had investigated the threat and found no evidence that Mr Hernandez had been on campus in recent weeks.
Mr Hernandez was quarterbacks coach for Brown’s football team in the 2011-12 academic year.