The man charged with attempted murder in the early-morning shooting of two people at the Syracuse Regional Transportation Center was assaulted in 2014 by former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez while the two were in jail.

Hernandez, who was convicted of murder, died of an apparent suicide in April 2017.

The assault occurred at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth in February 2014. Hernandez was indicted on charges of assault and battery in connection with the incident, according to media reports.

Booker would not testify in the case, as his lawyer said he didn’t want to be a rat, according to a report in The Herald News.

A man with the same name and age was charged Sunday morning in the Syracuse shooting.

Sgt. Jon A. Seeber, speaking for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed the mug shot of suspect Andrew Booker, 31, of 6 Bartlett Lane, East Wareham, MA is the same person pictured in media reports of the Hernandez jail incident.

The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office does not release mug shots.

Booker, 31, is scheduled to be arraigned later today in connection with the shooting. Booker is charged with two counts of attempted murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, Fitzpatrick said Sunday morning. Booker had an illegal handgun, Fitzpatrick said.

Booker pointed his gun, aimed and fired at a person who fled, but the gun misfired, Fitzpatrick said. Booker then rechecked his gun, chambered a round and fired, possibly at the fleeing person, the DA said. Instead, the shot hit a passenger in the leg, who has since been treated and released from the hospital, he said.

Booker then fired another round, striking a security guard in the midsection, Fitzpatrick said. The guard was transported to a Syracuse hospital, and is expected to survive. The guard has not been identified.

Booker was still armed when police arrived, Fitzpatrick said. He surrendered to police after a sheriff’s deputy fired at him and missed, the DA said.

Booker, who arrived on a bus at the transportation center early Sunday, has a criminal record in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Fitzpatrick said.

According to TMZ, Aaron Hernandez struck a fellow inmate – Andrew Booker then age 25 – in 2014 after a verbal dispute at the jail. According to the report, Booker had been arrested by a police gang unit in September 2014 with 16 bags of cocaine and a loaded gun in his waistband.

Booker allegedly exchanged words with Hernandez before the two men later came across each other in a hallway in the unit, according to the report. Booker was handcuffed, while Hernandez was not. Hernandez was charged with assault and battery in connection with the incident, according to a report in the Sun-Chronicle.

That report has a mug shot of Booker which matches the photo of Booker charged in Syracuse today, Seeber said.

Another photograph also appears in a March 21 media report in which Booker, same age and address, was charged with breaking and entering into a building.

Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime 315-470-3012 or email edoran@syracuse.com

• Netflix will release the Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez on Wednesday.
• The 3-part documentary film chronicles the life, career, trial, and suicide of former New England Patriots football player, Aaron Hernandez.
• Here is a timeline of the events involved.

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The story of the arrest, trial, conviction, and suicide of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez will arrive—sensationally, and with an airport thriller’s title—on Netflix this Wednesday: Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.

Five years, two separate trials—a conviction and an acquittal—and then a jail suicide abound with rumors of alleged homosexuality and speculation of neurological damage due to concussions; it’s no surprise then that Netflix would turn the Hernandez saga into an extravagant documentary, one surely meant to stand as this year’s Fyre Festival stand-in. The man who had it all—money, talent, fame—goes and throws it all away.

Here is a timeline of every major event in the Aaron Hernandez story. Much reporting comes from The Boston Globe.

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The Killing of Odin Lloyd

2012

July 16

The story begins in South End, Florida, early morning, with a drive-by shooting that kills two men, Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. The night before, Hernandez is seen at the Cure nightclub with Abreu, who spills a drink on the NFL star.

Al BelloGetty Images

2013

February

During a trip to West Palm Beach, Florida, a friend of Hernandez, Alexander Bradley, is shot in the face. Bradley will later testify that the shooting was perpetrated by Hernandez in an attempt to silence Bradley on the 2012 killings, for which Hernandez is later charged.

June

Club security footage captures Hernandez and his sister’s fiancé, Odin Lloyd, apparently squabbling. The next day, Hernandez sends a text message to a friend out of state, asking him to come to Massachusetts and saying, “You can’t trust anyone anymore.”

Video footage later that night captures Hernandez at home in Massachusetts carrying a handgun. He leaves the house with two men in a Nissan Altima. They pick up Lloyd who then sends a text to his sister, saying “NFL” and “Just so you know.” These are his last texts. Hernandez then arrives home and is seen entering his basement holding what appears to be a gun.

In the morning, Lloyd’s body is found by a jogger in an industrial park.

In the coming days, police search Hernandez’s home. They also find a .22 caliber handgun by a nearby street. (Prosecutors later claim that Hernandez’s friends, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, both identified with him that night, handled a .22. Hernandez is believed to have handled a .45, the casings of which were found near the body. The .45 is never recovered.)

A week later, Hernandez is arrested at home. He is charged with first-degree murder and five weapons charges. Ortiz and Wallace are later arrested as well.

July

Ortiz tells investigators that Hernandez told Lloyd during the drive that he was “chilling” with people Hernandez didn’t like. Ortiz says Hernandez got out of the car with Wallace and Lloyd. Ortiz then heard gunshots before Hernandez and Wallace returned to the car.

Much of the prosecution’s case will be based on Ortiz’s statements.

Boston GlobeGetty Images

September

Hernandez is arraigned and pleads not guilty to all six charges. A grand jury indicts Hernandez’s fiancé, Shayann Jenkins, for allegedly removing evidence from their home.

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2014

May

Hernandez is indicted on two counts of first-degree murder for the 2012 killings of Abreu and Furtado. He pleads not guilty. Prosecutors in the Lloyd case believe Hernandez killed Lloyd, because he thought Lloyd possessed information linking Hernandez to the 2012 killings.

2015

January-April

The Lloyd trial begins. The prosecution, lead by Bristol Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg, claims Hernandez orchestrated, participated, and covered up the killing of Lloyd. The defense, lead by Michael Fee, argues that Lloyd was Hernandez’s friend, that Hernandez would never risk his career in the NFL, that he was about to get married; “Aaron was planning his future, not a murder.”

Boston GlobeGetty Images

The prosecution presents physical evidence, including footprints at the crime scene that match Hernandez’s Nike Air Jordans and Hernandez’s DNA on .45 shell casings in Hernandez’s car. They remind jurors that they don’t need to prove Hernandez pulled the trigger to secure a murder conviction; they can show that he “knowingly participated” and intended to follow through with the killing. After calling 131 witnesses over 39 days, the prosecution rests its case.

The defense calls three witnesses and argues that DNA could have ended up on the shell casings even if Hernandez never handled them.

In April, Hernandez is found guilty of first-degree murder as well as five weapons charges.

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The Killing of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado

2017

February-April

The trial for the 2012 killings begins. The prosecution claims Hernandez, riding in a car with Bradley, who later claimed that Hernandez also shot at him, pulled up next to a BMW carrying Abreu and Furtado and fired five times at the vehicle. The defense, led by Jose Baez, claims that Bradley, the prosecution’s star witness, was the one who fired the shots. Much of the Hernandez defense involves discrediting Bradley’s account of the night, showing Bradley to be a convicted felon and alleged drug dealer. Baez also questions eye-witness accounts of the shooting; some claimed that Bradley’s passenger “look[ed] like a female.”

Boston GlobeGetty Images

Hernandez is acquitted of all charges.


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The Suicide

April

In an interview on K&C (Kirk & Callahan, a morning radio show in Boston), Boston journalist Michelle McPhee says Hernandez killed Lloyd because he caught Hernandez in a “compromising position” with another man.

Two days later, early morning, Hernandez is found dead in his prison cell. He is naked and has been hanged with a bed sheet. In his cell are three hand-written notes.

McPhee claims the notes were intended for Hernadez’s wife, his daughter, and his “prison boyfriend.” (The first two claims are later verified. The third recipient remains disputed.) McPhee also suggests that knowledge of an alleged homosexual relationship between Hernandez and a former high school classmate was believed by investigators to be the motive of the Lloyd killing.

Charles SonnenblickGetty Images

May

Department of Corrections releases a 132-page report saying Hernandez gave little indication that he was suicidal. The report also mentioned that Hernandez’s homosexuality had been discussed by inmates prior to his suicide.

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Director Geno McDermott’s Netflix documentary will act as an expansion of an earlier documentary, which highlighted many of the above events. McDermott’s new feature, however, will focus on later developments in the case, particularly Hernandez’s believed homosexuality.

Featuring new interviews with Hernandez’s high school teammates, the documentary will argue that much of Hernandez’s behavior was motivated by his apparent need to hide his sexuality. The documentary will also look at Hernandez’s home life and upbringing.

Killer Inside hits Netflix tomorrow.

Josh St. Clair
Joshua St Clair is an editorial assistant at Men’s Health Magazine.