Authorities Investigate Aaron Hernandez's Role In 2007 Shooting

It's a day that ends in "Y," so we were due to learn about yet another shooting incident that may or may not have involved Aaron Hernandez. Outside the Lines has us covered, with a nonfatal 2007 shooting outside a Gainesville club where at least one of the targets initially identified Hernandez as the gunman.

Here's what ESPN was able to dig up, which necessarily has holes because Hernandez was a minor and his name is redacted from the police report in every instance but one:

On Sept. 30, 2007, Florida freshman Aaron Hernandez, teammates Mike and Maurkice Pouncey, and UF grad and then-Jaguars rookie Reggie Nelson went to the Venue nightclub in Gainesville.

According to Nelson's comments to police, Hernandez told him a man named Randall Cason was at the club, and Cason had earlier stolen his necklace. Cason told police that a week earlier, his brother had been involved in a fight with a group of Gators players.

Cason left the nightclub with two friends, Corey Smith and Justin Glass. When their car stopped a light a few blocks away, someone fired into their vehicle, striking Smith and Glass.

According to Cason's statement to police, the shooter was a "Hawaiian" or "Hispanic" male, about 6'3" or 6'4", weighing around 230-240 pounds, with had a lot of tattoos. He was accompanied by a black male. According to a later reference in the police report, Cason identified the two as Hernandez and Nelson.

Media reports initially claimed that police had interviewed Hernandez, but the police report says when they attempted to, nine days after the shooting, he refused to speak with them and invoked his right to a lawyer. That same day, Cason backed off his initial identifications of Hernandez and Nelson.

The case went unsolved, but according to ABC News, Massachusetts authorities investigating Hernandez have reached out to Gainesville police, asking for more information on that 2007 shooting.

It's entirely possible that every cold case in both Florida and New England will be dusted off to see how Aaron Hernandez was involved.

The Gainesville PD incident report: