Hernandez may have told Belichick that spending the off-season in California would bring him closer to Brady. Brian Murphy may have thought that Hernandez had moved out west to get away from bad influences in New England. But Hernandez did not see a lot of Tom Brady in the months that followed, and he did not keep himself out of trouble.
The cement house that he and Shayanna rented in March, at the corner of Lyndon and Hermosa Beach Avenue in Hermosa Beach, looked out over the Pacific Ocean. The idea was to spend two months in paradise: he would relax, spending time with Shayanna and their baby daughter. Instead, he found himself flying old friends, like Bo Wallace, out from Bristol—and, eventually, fighting with Shayanna.
On the evening of March 25, a call came in to the 911 dispatcher in Hermosa Beach. Shayanna was calling. Aaron had just hurt his hand.
“I need an ambulance,” Shayanna said. “Immediately. He’s losing a lot of blood, he cut himself.”
“Where did he cut himself?” the dispatcher asked.
“On his wrist.”
“Did he do this on purpose?”
“Yes,” Shayanna said. “Are you sending someone?”
“Ma’am, I’m making up the call right now. You need to be calm.”
The dispatcher asked Shayanna if her fiancé had ever threatened to hurt himself in the past.
“No,” Shayanna said. “No, no, no.”
She and Aaron had simply gotten into an argument.
Moving down her checklist, the dispatcher asked Jenkins if alcohol or drugs had been involved. “No,” Shayanna said, emphatically.
After a bit more prodding, the dispatcher finally got Shayanna to admit that Aaron had put his fist through a window. “You didn’t say that before,” she told Shayanna. “You made it sound like he cut himself.”
“He’s bleeding!” Shayanna yelled. “I don’t know…”
If the dispatcher couldn’t help her, Shayanna said, she should put somebody nice on the line. Then, before the dispatcher could say anything else, Shayanna hung up.
On several occasions, Aaron’s neighbors were the ones who called the police.
At around the time of the 911 call, Aaron and Shayanna visited a tattoo parlor in Hermosa Beach and got a set of matching tattoos.
Remind me that we’ll always have each other, Aaron’s read, referencing a lyric by the band Incubus.
Shayanna’s tattoo completed the verse: When everything else is gone.
But a few days later, on April 2, the police were called out to Aaron and Shayanna’s rental. When they arrived, they heard fighting and saw that furniture had been thrown around the room.
When the police asked Shayanna to file a report she declined.
Nine days later, on April 11, Aaron drove to a Bank of America in Hermosa Beach to make some deposits. One check, from the Patriots, was for $1,835,809.97. Another, from Puma, added $30,000 to Aaron’s balance. After depositing the checks, Aaron asked the teller to wire $15,000 to a Florida bank account belonging the parents of Oscar “Papoo” Hernandez.
According to charges prosecutors would file in District Court in Massachusetts, Papoo passed the money along to Bo Wallace and two other men, who used the funds to buy two pistols, a Colt AR-15, a Hungarian-made AK-47, and a used Toyota Camry—which was used to ship the pistols and the AK-47 from Florida to Aaron’s home in North Attleboro, where Shayanna Jenkins ended up signing for it.
Aaron liked the tattoos that he and Shayanna had gotten well enough to return to the shop.
This time, he wanted a tattoo that depicted the smoking muzzle of a semiautomatic handgun, like the one that had been used to shoot Alexander Bradley. He asked the artist to ink a spent shell underneath it.
Above his wrist, Aaron got a tattoo of a revolver with five bullets in its chamber, and had the phrase “God Forgives,” written backward so that it could be easily read in the mirror, tattooed beside it.
Subsequently, prosecutors would argue that chambered bullets symbolized the five shots that were fired on the night of the double murder in Boston.
All the while, Aaron was receiving a steady barrage of text messages from Alexander Bradley—who had not forgiven Hernandez at all.
If anything, Bradley seemed to believe that Hernandez owed him recompense for his injuries.
u did that bullshit for no reason n me being the real friend I was to u I didn’t try to ruin u even after u tried to kill me, Bradley had written in one text message. think about how real that is…the tears should be in my eyes after the way u betrayed me I never crossed u n no way…
I luve u and u r not gonna frame me for some bread, Aaron replied.
I would never try to frame u u left me with one eye and a lot of head trauma u owe for what u did n its too bad u don’t know me enuff to know that this convo is private between us this ain’t for no lawyer or cop too see we both know what happened the truth is the truth if I dealt with police my boy this woulda been over n done with that’s whats crazy about this situation we know each other so well u know i aint on no bs u too paranoid that’s what made u do this shit u did N last but not least i always wanted the best for u remember that you obviously didn’t feel the same.
I will always be there for u till the day u die, Aaron texted, but not in the state of mind ur in nd been in and I don’t kno wat gotten into u after all the yrs we were inseparable but everything aside ur always on my mind and I love u and always will no homo.
Whats crazy is I believe that part is true, Bradley replied. u prolly do think about how real of a nigga I am n how u even flipped on me but what sickens me is the fact that u r denying this shit like its for the lawyer or cops yo u must really not know me but i guess i didn’t know u either cause i woulda never thought, ud try to end me…
At around this time, Aaron updated his contacts in his phone. From now on, Alexander Bradley would come up as “Lies.”
On April 11, the day that Aaron wired $15,000 to Papoo Hernandez’s parents, he and Bradley had yet another exchange.
do u have trust worthy niggaz like me around doubt it dog, Bradley texted. 6 strong wit a lot of weapontry so hey u turned this convo into this…
Once again, Aaron denied having done anything wrong.
if u ever got me in trouble or ruin my life for suttin I didn’t do I don’t even wanna get back at you but u will pay!!!, he texted. I’ll be back around the way in a couple months too and I can’t wait to see u cuz I see u still be at ur baby mothers crib a bunch! Love u cuz can’t stop loving someone that was the only person that I fucked wit and was like a brother to me but dam u are trying to sue me for suttin I didn’t do and don’t even kno about!!! If u could win that then God is on ur side but I doubt something can be proved that isn’t true!!!
Here u go threaten again u know that dont scare me tho if u knew how g eed up i am u wouldnt even say that, Bradley told Hernandez. Then he told Aaron how exactly how “G’d up” he’d gotten, with AK-47s, MAC-11s, MAC-90s at the ready, four bulletproof vests, and Oh, almost 4 got da right niggaz 2 use the weopontry…
if you think them wolves ain’t on deck then try what u gotta try, Bradley wrote.
The two men went back and forth, mixing threats, veiled and unveiled, with endearments:
What makes u think I wanna kill u u da one who tried 2 kill me n oh I promis ull pay 4 that n u r so boxed in ull be number one suspect… (Bradley)
I swear to God either you know you’re trying to ruin my life and kill me when all I did was be there for you I still love you no homo I will always love you. (Hernandez)
Now if it aint gonna be this way say fuck it u aint gettn shit from me i file civil suit u loose it al n we hold court n da street u think im scared 2 die… (Bradley)
I MISS U AND LOVE YOU and still watch videos of us having fun every single day and can’t believe this and will keep saying I can’t believe all of this cuz I truly can’t believe all of this shit is goin on!!…if I would really try and kill u when we were that close!! I wouldn’t and never would wanna hurt u and u kno that…Love u good nite. (Hernandez)
Not to bother u but feel me on this, Bradley wrote back, sounding like a scorned lover. When u did that…its like u coming home 2 yr crib n catching ur broad in bed with another…U stole my trust n tore my ego.