This morning, amid initial shock, feelings were mixed toward the death of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who was serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. Initially sentenced in 2015, he was also facing two additional life sentences for a 2012 drive-by shooting, in which he was implicated as the shooter. Just five days ago he was acquitted of both murders, inspiring some hope in his legal team that perhaps, pending an appeal, he could one day be a free man again.
That hope was dashed as he was found dead in his cell this morning of an apparent suicide. News spread quickly, and many in the Hip Hop community shared their reactions on Twitter.
A growing number of users seemed to reject the “theory” of suicide — notably his former agent. Some suggested that it wouldn’t make sense following his recent legal victories. Although, as many memes point out, this ignores the fact that Aaron was still set to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Some chose to point out that perhaps, in light of the brazen nature of his initial conviction, his death should be talked about in a different way.
22 veterans commit suicide everyday after experiencing hell for our freedom. If only they got as much attention as murderer Aaron Hernandez
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) April 19, 2017
Aaron Hernandez is a convicted murderer and killed y'all are saying "rest in peace"? pic.twitter.com/V0ZjfxjGZj
— 𝐅𝐚𝐛𝐬 (@Fabio227) April 19, 2017
At the end of the day, though, the tragedy of the situation is that multiple loved ones were taken from their families, and that includes Hernandez’s. Although an archaic legal principle called “abatement ab initio” will see his conviction voided, ensuring he dies as an innocent man, there is definitely no closure, or easy answer as to why he chose to throw it all away.
Why do people care about this dude? He was crazy and murdered multiple people…
snoop sending prayers and flowers? wtf is wrong with him
were the victims white? that would explain why this murderer is praised by all these racists.
Zero tears shed over here. Dude threw away a great career to play gangster, and gangsters either end up dead or in jail (both for hernandez). Give me mill$ and i am out this b*tch. I would kill myself instead of doin life in prison
Wouldn’t call him playing gangster since he had been geting down like that since high school. More like he was just a bad dude who let those drugs fuck his mind up. PCP tends to do that to people. That’s some heavy shit.
Dude was apparently on that fake weed shit. That PCP put him in that predicament, and that fake weed put him in that mind state to kill himself. Just say no to these crazy drugs folks.
you can ask Big Lurch about that PCP thou he says it was a conspiracy he never killed the bish they set him up
Snoop Dogg been tweekin for years..that’s why the REAL CRIPS is extorting this fool. Fake azz Crip.
who? you’re nobody (til somebody kills you)
his lawyer Jose Baez is going to push this “no way he killed himself” agenda and ask for an investigation. he knows how many more billable hours he can squeeze out of the hernandez family. smh.
So I guess you guys believe that the police can’t find Tupac and Biggie’s killers……………smh. People will believe anything the media puts out. SAD.
yea, fam. People believe that the CIA and FBI were looking for bin Laden for years but a CNN reporter waltzed on in to his secret hideout and conducted an interview
This is what is wrong with hip hop these days.. No interesting hip hop news so they report on a NFL player / killers death.