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Rob Gronkowski on Aaron Hernandez: 'I Was Definitely Shook' by Murder Charge
March 18, 2021
Rob Gronkowski opened up about his reaction to finding out that former teammate Aaron Hernandez had been charged with murder.
Appearing on the 10 Questions with Kyle Brandt show (h/t TMZ Sports), Gronkowski said he "was definitely shook" upon hearing the news.
"Because, being his teammate and everything—you really don't see that," he added. "You're not really looking into players like that...that's who they are, or that's what they're doing."
Hernandez was arrested in June 2013 in connection with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old former semi-pro football player whose body was found by a nighttime jogger not far from Hernandez's home in Massachusetts.
On June 26, 2013, Hernandez was formally charged with first-degree murder and five other gun-related charges. He was later indicted on a double-murder charge from a July 2012 but was eventually acquitted in that case.
Hernandez was later sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury found him guilty of murdering Lloyd. He died by suicide at the age of 27 after hanging himself in his prison cell in April 2017, shortly after he was acquitted of the double-murder charge.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court reinstated Hernandez's conviction of Lloyd's murder in March 2019 after a judge threw it out two years earlier because Hernandez died while the case was still in the appeals process.
Gronkowski and Hernandez spent three seasons together as teammates with the Patriots. Both players were selected by New England in the 2010 NFL draft.