FILE – This March 23, 2023, booking photo provided by the Cheshire Police Department shows Dennis Hernandez, former UConn football player and older brother of late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Hernandez is behind bars after a witness told police she believed he was planning a school shooting. (Cheshire Police Department via AP, File)
The brother of late football star Aaron Hernandez, who died by suicide while serving a life sentence for murder, has been arrested for allegedly planning mass shootings at two universities.
Dennis “DJ” Hernandez, 37, was apparently planning to attack the University of Connecticut and Brown University, according to a case report from the Bristol Police Department, obtained by local news station WFSB.
“Will I kill? Absolutely,” Hernandez wrote on social media on July 19, according to the report. “I’ve warned my enemies so pay up front.”
That social media post was the latest in a string of alarming comments Hernandez had made to a woman who he had been dating until “recently,” according to the report.
According to this woman, who is not identified by name in the report, Hernandez “had been rambling […] about people owing him money,” the report says. She reportedly told police that instead of appearing for a July 7 court date related to a different case, he went to UConn and Brown University.
The woman “said that Dennis went into a number of classrooms and buildings at UConn,” the report says. She went on to tell me that as he was rambling about that incident, Dennis said that ‘he has a bullet for everyone, that he loves me […] but even that you’re [redacted]s not safe,”” the report says. The woman said she didn’t feel threatened specifically, but that she is concerned about that comment and believed that Hernandez was having a mental health crisis.
The law enforcement official who wrote the report noted that based on the texts from Hernandez, “it became readily apparent that Dennis was gravely disabled and a danger to society.”
Police were tipped off by a woman identified in the document only as “victim.” She told police that Hernandez is “extremely sick and that his mental health is continuing to deteriorate,” the report says.
“Victim also informed me that Dennis traveled to Brown University and UCONN to ‘map the schools out,’ the report says. “Victim surmised that he did this because he was planning to do a ‘school shooting.’”
In his July 19 social media posts, Hernandez allegedly said that the victim deserves to die and that he is coming for her family, the Bristol Police report says.
Hernandez also allegedly sent threatening text messages to the victim. In one message, he was reportedly “rambling about UCONN” and ended the message with what appears to be a threat:
UConn program is going to pay unless I have a package deal and I get my estate and every single thing I have worked for. The coaches and university officials want to be selfish and selective about s—, well I am too. Very. They are going to get surprised. Love you. I would recommend remaining away from there because when I go I’m taking down everything And don’t give a f— who gets caught in the cross fire. I’ve died for wears [sic] now and now it’s other peoples turn. I’m prepared to give my life So if I don’t get to see you on the outside know I love you always Not all shootings are bad I’m realizing. Some are necessary for change to happen.
Police eventually tracked Hernandez down at a house that same day, forming a perimeter around the residence because Hernandez has a “history of running from police on foot.”
He didn’t run this time.
Instead, according to the report, he eventually walked out of the residence — after previously telling officers that he was “armed” and that if police approached, “he would kill us all” — and began to advance on police, his “hands outstretched to his side.”
“He began yelling shoot me, and disregarded the numerous police commands,” the report said. He was eventually taken down by a taser.
After Hernandez was taken into custody and was receiving treatment in an area hospital, “he continued to make threats,” the report said.
“He stated that he was planning to still kill [redacted] along with anyone who profited off of his brother Aaron,” the report said. “Additionally, Dennis mentioned specifically ESPN, but not any people.”
It’s the fourth time Hernandez has been arrested this year, WFSB reported. He was first arrested in May after leading police on a pursuit, and then for a second time days later when he threw a bag with a brick and handwritten note at the ESPN campus in Bristol. He was arrested after missing a court date in that case — presumably to go to the UConn and Brown campuses, per the affidavit.
Aaron Hernandez, once a tight end for the New England Patriots, was convicted of the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd. He was acquitted in 2017 of the murders of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu, who died in a drive-by shooting. As Law&Crime previously reported, his conviction was vacated because he died while his case was being appealed.
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