SHIRLEY, MA - The Massachusetts Department of Corrections says former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez has committed suicide in prison.

In a statement, the department says Hernandez, "hanged himself utilizing a bedsheet that he attached to his cell window."  It says he also tried to block his door from the inside by jamming it with several items. He was found by corrections officers just after 3 a.m. Hernandez was transported to UMass Leominster where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m.

Officials say Hernandez was in a single cell in a general housing unit.

Hernandez was serving life in prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.  Last week, he was acquitted of fatally shooting two men outside a Boston nightclub in 2012.  Aaron Hernandez was 27 years old.

 

More From WFHN-FM/FUN 107