RTR4XGLG
Former NFL player Aaron Hernandez listens as the guilty verdict is read during his murder trial at the Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts, April 15, 2015. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter

Jailed ex-New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez has been identified as the gunman involved in a deadly 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston. Raychides Sanches, who survived the shooting, identified Hernandez during Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing where he was asked to describe the chaotic scene the night of July 16, 2012.

Sanches said Tuesday that he had been a passenger in a car stopped at a light in the city’s South End when an SUV pulled up, and someone from the vehicle said “What’s up, negroes?” and then gunfire erupted, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Another survivor, Aquilino Freire, told the court he was shot twice. He could not describe the shooter clearly as done by Sanches.

Tuesday’s hearing focused on a number of pre-trial issues as jury selection is slated to begin Feb. 13. Hernandez is due back in court for another hearing Dec. 27.

Hernandez is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2013 shooting death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, identified as Hernandez’s associates, face separate charges related to Lloyd’s death.

Here are 10 things to know about the NFL star’s Boston case:

  • Hernandez fatally shot 29-year-old Daniel de Abreu and 28-year-old Safiro Furtado the night of July 16, 2012.
  • Hernandez faces two counts of murder in the deaths of Furtado and de Abreu.
  • He also faces charges of armed assault and attempted murder associated with shots fired at the surviving occupants in the vehicle.
  • Prosecutors say Hernandez gunned down the two men after one of them bumped into him at a Boston nightclub earlier that night.
  • Authorities allege that he got into the SUV with a former friend, Alexander Bradley, then followed the offending group’s car.
  • The 27-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty to the double murder, has been attempting to avoid trial in the case.
  • Defense lawyers claim that attorney-client privilege may have been violated in Hernandez's case.
  • Hernandez’s jailhouse calls were accessed by unauthorized people while he was awaiting his first murder trial, his lawyers claim.
  • Hernandez has also been charged with witness intimidation for allegedly shooting Bradley in the face in a Florida industrial park in 2013.
  • Hernandez has also pleaded not guilty in the Bradley case.
RELATED STORIES