Ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez found dead in prison cell in Massachusetts

Authorities say former Patriots tight end, already serving a life sentence for murder, committed suicide days after being acquitted of a double slaying

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Aaron Hernandez listens during his double murder trial in Suffolk Superior Court, in Boston. Photos: AP

Published: 10:21pm, 19 Apr 2017Updated: 10:59pm, 19 Apr 2017

Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez hanged himself in his prison cell on Wednesday while serving a life sentence for murder, authorities in Massachusetts said.

Hernandez, 27, was found by guards at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Centre in Shirley just after 3am, Department of Correction spokesman Christopher Fallon said in a statement. The former New England Patriots tight end was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.

His death comes just days after he was acquitted of a double murder and on the same day the Patriots were set to visit the White House to mark their Super Bowl win. The team had no immediate comment.

Hernandez was in a single cell in a general population housing unit in the maximum-security state prison. He hanged himself with a bed sheet that he attached to a window, Fallon said. Hernandez tried to block the cell door from the inside by jamming it with various items, Fallon said.

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez blows a kiss to his daughter, who was sitting with her mother, Shayanna Jenkins, who was Hernandez's long-time fiancée, during jury deliberations in his double-murder trial at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

Fallon said he’s not aware of any suicide note written by Hernandez. He said that officials had no concern that Hernandez might take his own life, and said if they had had any such worries he would have been transferred to a mental health unit.

Hernandez was moved to tears on Friday after he was acquitted of the 2012 fatal shootings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston.