Aaron Hernandez, once the pride of Bristol, Connecticut and a star high school football player, was convicted of murder on Wednesday and some residents are in shock, while others said they are not surprised by the verdict.
Brian Ronan, who went to high school with and played Little League team with Hernandez remembers him as "a good kid" and said he was humble while they were growing up.
“I never thought he was capable of doing something like that,” Ronan said. “I was surprised. I was sad. It stinks to see a talented kid like that that you grew up with go down for something like this.”
Students in school with Hernandez were proud to say they went to Bristol Central High School and that he played for their team, Ronan said.
“Everybody looked up to the kid. It didn’t matter if you were older than him, younger than him, everybody idolized this guy,” Ronan said.
Hernandez was found guilty on Wednesday of first-degree murder in the late-night shooting of Odin Lloyd in North Attleboro, Massachusetts on June 17, 2013. Lloyd was shot six times in a deserted industrial park near Hernandez's home.
“If he did it, he did it,” Tom Doyle, of Terryville, said. “Just ‘cause who you are don’t make you innocent.”
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One man who did not want to be identified by name said Hernandez is guilty and “got what he deserved.”
Bristol Mayor Kevin Cockayne also commented on the verdict when asked.
"One person does not define Bristol and we can't forget Odin Lloyd and his family, which is the reason we're here today. It's unfortunate that someone who had everything chose this path and now will spend the rest of his life in jail," Cockayne said.
Jose Cartagena, Hernandez's former barber, said he didn’t expect the case to go the way it did and guesses thet he didn’t really know who Hernandez really was.
“There were times during the trial where it looked like it was going to go his way,” Cartagena said. “A lot of us were just shocked. It came out on TV, everybody just stopped doing what they were doing and just focused on what they were saying on TV. There were a few minutes of silence.”
Claire Coggshall, of Bristol, said she was not surprised by the verdict.
“Knowing that he had a history of violence. I’m not surprised,” she said.
When NBC Connecticut did a profile of Hernandez in 2006, when he was a teenager, Hernandez showed off the athletic prowess that would eventually secure him a scholarship to the University of Florida, then lead him to the New England Patriots.
He won a Super Bowl with the Patriots and Cartagena recalls Hernandez coming back to Bristol after the big win.
“He was a humble kid. It was surprising to even find out that he was mixed up in this whole situation,” he said.
Now the former NFL player who once had a $40 million contract and a standout career ahead of him will be serving life in prison without possibility of parole in Walpole, Massachusetts, just 3.5 miles away from Gillette Stadium, where he once played.
