Homicide, home security and pro football

It's not often that a news story involves a homicide, a home security system and a professional football player, but such has been the case over the past week regarding New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Actually, I should say former tight end, because the Patriots released him today after he was arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player, according to a report from The New York Times. Police took Hernandez from his North Attleborough, Mass. home this morning in handcuffs, according to the report. Hernandez' home security system has provided crucial evidence in the case, the report said.

Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, was found shot dead June 17, about a mile from the home of Hernandez. Officials have ruled the death a homicide, and The New York Times story says Lloyd was shot five times. News reports say that Hernandez was friends with Lloyd, who reportedly was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancée.

Authorities say home surveillance videos show Hernandez was with Lloyd the night he died, according to The New York Times story. Here's more from that report:

Prosecutors said home surveillance videos taken from Hernandez's house show him in possession of firearms before and after Lloyd was killed, that Hernandez was observed picking Lloyd up at 2:30 a.m. on the night he was killed, that a silver Nissan Altima — the same make of vehicle Hernandez had rented — was seen going to and coming from the site where Lloyd's body was found and that Hernandez was seen exiting his vehicle with a gun at his home at 3:29 a.m., shortly after authorities say Lloyd had been murdered.
Prosecutors added that .45 caliber shell casings found at the scene matched shell casings found in the rental car after Hernandez turned it in.
“The defendant orchestrated the execution,” an assistant district attorney, Bill McCauley, said. Lloyd, he said, was shot five times.
One of Hernandez's lawyers, Michael Fee, called the case against him “weak” and “circumstantial.”