Authorities May Like Aaron Hernandez For 2012 Shootings, Search Warrant Indicates

Police in Boston are investigating whether former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez may have been the shooter in a 2012 double slaying.

The news on Hernandez, already jailed and awaiting trial for murder connected to a 2013 shooting, comes as a search warrant request was released Thursday by Superior Court in Bristol, Conn. The Associated Press reports that no charges have been filed in the dual shooting on July 16, 2012, resulting in the deaths of Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado. The two men were killed when unknown assailants fired on their car from inside an SUV while stopped at a traffic light.

Law enforcement officials believe Aaron Hernandez drove the SUV and “may have been the shooter,” according to the affidavit and search warrant application. The vehicle in question is Hernandez’s Toyota 4Runner, which he received in exchange for promotional work from a Rhode Island auto dealership.

“There is also probable cause to believe that Aaron Hernandez was operating the suspect vehicle used in the shooting homicides of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado, and may have been the shooter,” a detective wrote in the warrant, via FOX Sports.

The first connection potentially tying Hernandez to the 2012 slayings came from his involvement in the investigation of the killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. Members of law enforcement recalled seeing Hernandez on security footage from a night club Correia de Abreu and Furtado had visited shortly before being gunned down.

The affidavit details that police have been investigating the potential link between the two cases since June 22, 2013, after receiving a phone call from a night club security supervisor who suggested “someone accidently spilled the beans in front of me.” Also included in the search warrant application is a bag of clothes belonging to the former football player, as authorities were interested in “clothing and accessories that Aaron Hernandez wore on the night of June 16, 2012.”

Aquilino Freire, a third individual who survived the 2012 shootings, told authorities an SUV pulled up next to them while they were stopped at a traffic lightand that several gunshots were fired from the rear passenger seat into the car.

What do you think of the latest developments into Aaron Hernandez’s legal situation?

(Image Courtesy ABC News)