This past Wednesday morning, April 19th, former NFL star Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell after hanging himself. Prison guards found Hernandez unresponsive in his cell around 3 a.m. He was then rushed to the UMASS Memorial-Health Alliance Hospital where he was finally pronounced dead.

Hernandez was serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd, but he was only recently acquitted just days ago of a double murder.

The news came as such a shock, especially as it came just days after he was found not guilty of the murders of Daniel Jorge Correia and Safiro Teixeira Furtado. Hernandez faced eight counts in all, but was proved guilty on just one count: illegal possession of a firearm.

A family member of Hernandez spoke to him the night before he took his life and the thought of Aaron taking his own life never crossed his mind.

In a Facebook post, the family member said that “he was in good spirits and his conversation was nothing but joy. He was thinking about his future and how he was going to win his appeal in the Odin Lloyd case.”

Hernandez has dealt with legal problems most of his adult life. His mother claims his reckless behavior was a result of his father’s death when he was only 16 years old.

In his time at the University of Florida, the tight end was involved in two separate legal issues that damaged his image as a student athlete.

In 2007, when being escorted out of a bar, Hernandez punched an employee on the side of the head and ruptured his eardrum. That same year, he was a suspect in a double shooting. It was never proven if he was guilty, but the accusations were enough to lower his draft stock and label him as a “thug.”

It seemed that Hernandez put that life behind him once he arrived in New England in 2010. It seemed the leadership of Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, and Tom Brady was enough for him to clean up his act.

Hernandez came onto the scene his rookie season and was a major weapon for the Patriots offense. In year two, it became clear that he was one of the top tight ends in the NFL and the duo between him and Rob Gronkowski would wreak havoc on the league for years. The Bristol native finished the season with over 900 yards receiving and 7 touchdowns.

The sky was the limit for Hernandez. In August of 2012, he signed a $40 million contract that included a $12.5 million signing bonus, the largest for a NFL tight end ever. By age 22 he had played in a super bowl, became a multimillionaire, and was one of the top tight ends in the league.

Aaron Hernandez’s life changed forever on June 18, 2013. That day police searched his house in connection with an investigation for the death of Odin Lloyd. A cell phone belonging to Hernandez was found smashed to pieces, and police found out he hired a cleaning staff to clean his house the day Lloyd’s body was found.  

On June 20, the Patriots “barred” Hernandez from Gillette Stadium claiming they did not want to be the site of a media breakout. Less than a week later, Aaron Hernandez arrested at his house in North Attleboro, Massachusetts for the murder of Odin Lloyd. 90 minutes later the New England Patriots released him of his contract.  

After two years of trials and being locked up on prison, Hernandez was found guilty of first degree and was sentenced to life in prison without a possibility of parole. Everything he had worked for and hoped to accomplish was all thrown away, at age 25.

The life of Aaron Hernandez is truly tragic, but it is difficult to mourn his death. It’s always tragic to see another human being take his life, but Hernandez had the world in his hands and was given all the opportunities to be successful, but he chose to throw it away.

My condolences go out to his family, his fiancee, and his daughter, but I can’t say I feel sorry for him. The story of Aaron Hernandez will always serve as a lesson to young adults. The choices you make in this life matter. A man at the age of 22 had anything he could ask for and more, but bad decisions led to his tragic downfall.

Instead of celebrating a Super Bowl Championship at the White House with the Patriots, he was found dead in his jail cell, only 27 years old.