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A hint that Hernandez was with man found slain

State Police dug for evidence Thursday in an industrial park in North Attleborough.Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle/AP

Video images taken early Monday morning appear to show New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez together on Fayston Street in Boston with a Dorchester man whose bullet-ridden body was discovered later that day in a North Attleborough industrial park near Hernandez’s house, say two law enforcement officials.

Hernandez, an up-and-coming NFL star, is not cooperating with police, said a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The existence of the video evidence and a second video showing Hernandez later that morning in North Attleborough came to light Thursday as police continued to search the industrial park where the body of Odin L. Lloyd, 27, an acquaintance of Hernandez and a semipro football player, was discovered. The source of the videos was not immediately clear.

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“He was killed where they found the body,” said one law enforcement official. “He was shot multiple times.”

Investigators have not declared Hernandez a suspect, though police moved swiftly to speak to him after Lloyd was found slain. State Police searched Hernandez’s sprawling home Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday they scoured the site where Lloyd was found dead, looking for shell casings, said two officials.

Investigators are trying to determine a possible motive as they continue to work to build a case, said one official.

Reporters have staked out Hernandez’s home for days, as questions continue to build about his connection to Lloyd.

Aaron Hernandez after he left Gillette Stadium on Thursday.7NEWS Boston

In a surreal scene uncannily reminiscent of O.J. Simpson’s infamous white Bronco chase, 19 years ago this week, television news helicopters trailed Hernandez’s white sport utility vehicle Thursday, following him from his home to Gillette Stadium, in nearby Foxborough, and to his lawyer’s office in Boston. He declined to speak to a surge of reporters when he stopped at a gas station.

An attorney for Hernandez, Michael Fee, emerged around 8 p.m. from the offices of Ropes & Gray, a law firm in the Prudential Center. As a small group of reporters followed him asking questions, he said his client had left the building, though did not say when. He declined to comment on the substance of the meeting.

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Fee did not return a call and e-mail seeking comment.

Meanwhile in Florida, lawyers for a man who says that Hernandez shot him in February, leaving him disfigured and half-blind, refiled a federal lawsuit seeking damages against the football player. The case, originally filed last week, had been withdrawn Monday so that an error could be fixed in the text of the complaint.

Reporters gathered across the street from the North Attleborough home of Aaron Hernandez.Jessica Rinaldi For The Boston Globe

Alexander Bradley, 30, of East Hartford, Conn., says in the suit that Hernandez pointed a gun at him after an argument in a Miami strip club and, either intentionally or through negligence, fired.

Bradley’s lawyer, David Jaroslawicz, said the police investigation in Massachusetts does not directly affect his case, “except that if he’s not playing football, he might not have any money for us to collect once we get a damage award.”

Jaroslawicz could not explain why Bradley stymied the criminal investigation into the shooting by telling Florida police in February that he did not know who shot him, as police described in reports.

“I haven’t seen the police report,” Jaroslawicz said in a phone interview. “You know more than I do. Bye.” Then he hung up.

A photo on the porch of Odin Lloyd’s Dorchester home showed the semipro football player in uniform for the Boston Bandits. He had played for the team since 2007.Yoon S. Byun/Globe staff

In July 2006, Bradley was convicted in Connecticut of selling drugs and sentenced to five years in jail with the balance suspended after 18 months, according to court records.

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Several people on Thursday evening came in and out of the green duplex with attached garage listed as Bradley’s home. All declined comment.

Bradley has not spoken publicly since the news of his lawsuit was reported on Wednesday and it is unclear if Hernandez, who is also from Connecticut, knew him prior to the incident.

On Dorchester’s Fayston Street, where Lloyd’s family lives at the edge of Blue Hill Avenue, grief arrived in twos and threes as mourners stopped by Thursday.

His family, which has roots in Antigua, placed several of Lloyd’s sports trophies on the rail of their front porch. A framed photograph set amid the trophies showed Lloyd in a blue football uniform with what appeared to be the number 82.

Lloyd played linebacker for the semipro Boston Bandits and participated in a scrimmage at a high school field in Boston Saturday night. Lloyd had played for the Bandits since 2007 and was considered a speedy pass rushing specialist, according to his coach.

Grieving neighbors and family were filled with disbelief and questions about Lloyd’s death and the connection to Hernandez.

“I want to know, what happened? Who did this to him? Who brought him there? Why?” said one woman, who would only say she is a cousin of the slain man.

Another cousin said someone picked up Lloyd from the family home hours before he was found dead on Monday.

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“This is hurting his mother,” said cousin Genevor Monell, speaking of Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward. “That’s her only son. She’s a loving mother.” Monell said Lloyd was born in St. Croix.

He had a job and did not have children, she said. The last person he spoke with was his sister.

Residents on the street sounded shaken. “Let’s not forget that he is the victim,” said neighbor Paul Sandefur. “When you are dealing with these cases involving big-name people, the victim gets lost. Everybody is talking about the celebrity, but the victim gets lost.”


Maria Cramer, Wesley Lowery, Travis Andersen, and Brian Ballou of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Nikita Lalwani and Colin A. Young contributed to this report. Mark Arsenault can be reached at marsenault@
globe.com
. Follow him on Twitter @bostonglobemark. Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @meghanirons.