STORRS, Conn. — The older brother of late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is behind bars after a woman close to him told police she was concerned he was planning a school shooting.
Dennis Hernandez, a former UConn football player, was shocked with a stun gun and arrested by police on July 18 after he threatened to kill officers who had come to his Bristol, Connecticut home, then stormed out of the home yelling “shoot me, shoot me,” according to police.
On the way to the hospital, Hernandez, who posed as DJ while playing quarterback and wide receiver for the Huskies in the mid-2000s, said he planned to kill anyone who had benefited from his younger brother, police said in an arrest report.
Bristol police officers went to Hernandez’s home after speaking with two women about what they described as his deteriorating mental health.
Hernandez, 37, was originally arrested in March after police said he dumped a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence and onto ESPN property in Bristol before leaving.
Hernández did not appear in court as scheduled on July 7.. One of the women told police that Hernandez told her that he had driven to the UConn campus in Storrs and the Brown University campus in Providence that day to “map the schools.” The woman, whose name is not listed in the police report, told police she assumed Hernandez was planning a school shooting.
UConn police confirmed that a vehicle linked to Hernandez was on campus that day.
The other woman told police that, digressing about that incident, Hernandez said she «has a bullet for everyone,» according to the arrest report.
Hernandez also posted threats on social media toward one of those women and others, police said. One of them read in part: “Shall I kill? Absolutely.» In a text message to one of the women on July 7, Hernandez wrote that he was angry at UConn coaches and university officials, and warned that he was «deleting everything.»
He said it has been dying for years, «and now it is the turn of other peoples.»
“I am realizing that not all shootings are bad,” he wrote.
A phone message seeking comment was left with the public defender’s office, which represents Hernandez in the case. Hernandez grew up in Bristol and had recently lived in Florida.
UConn said in a statement that it determined at that time that there was «no known imminent threat» to the school and that Hernandez was taken into custody shortly after UConn learned of the incident. Brown, where Hernandez served as quarterbacks coach during the 2010-11 season, said in a statement that his investigation indicated Hernandez had not returned to campus in recent weeks.
Dennis Hernandez is due back in court on August 1 on charges that include threats, disorderly conduct and failure to appear in court. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in 2017 while serving a murder sentence.
