Aaron Hernandez Identified as Shooter by Witness in 2012 Drive-By Shooting

Raychides Sanches, one of the two men who survived a double homicide allegedly committed by Aaron Hernandez, took the witness stand at a pretrial hearing Tuesday and identified the former New England Patriots tight end as the shooter.

Chris Villani of the Boston Herald provided an exchange between Sanches and defense attorney Jose Baez:

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"What did the shooter look like?" Baez asked.

"Looked like him," Sanches replied, nodding in the direction of the defense table where Hernandez was seated. "Hernandez."

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Sanches said he was in a car with Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado when shots were fired into the vehicle, killing both men. He said there was "a lot of blood" and that "there was screaming, crying, crazy...I saw my friends die quickly."

The prosecution had filed a motion to hold the hearing in hopes that Sanches and another man in the vehicle could describe the shooter. Sanches was questioned by Baez for roughly an hour.

Hernandez, 27, is accused of killing De Abreu and Furtado on July 16, 2012, after an incident at a Boston nightclub. He was indicted on double-murder charges in 2014.

Prosecutors say Hernandez did not know the victims before the night in question. De Abreu allegedly bumped into Hernandez on the edge of the dance floor and spilled his drink, angering the then-Patriot. According to a police account of the night, Hernandez later followed the car carrying De Abreu before firing multiple shots into the vehicle.

Hernandez's prosecution in the case was delayed because he was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Odin Lloyd, a semipro football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, in 2013. In 2015, Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Hernandez will face additional life sentences if convicted in this case. His trial is set to begin Feb. 13, though the defense has asked for a continuation, per Villani.

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