February 28, 2014 -- Updated 1932 GMT (0332 HKT)
The families of two men who were gunned down in Boston in 2012 have
filed wrongful death lawsuits against former New England Patriots player
Aaron Hernandez, according to court documents. FULL STORY
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Aaron Hernandez sued by families of 2012 fatal shooting victims
February 28, 2014 -- Updated 0041 GMT (0841 HKT)
Former New England Patriots tight
end Aaron Hernandez appears at a bail hearing on Thursday, June 27, in
Fall River Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts. He was denied
bail and is charged with murder in the death of semipro football player
Odin Lloyd.
HIDE CAPTION
Aaron Hernandez
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The former NFL star is being held on first-degree murder charge in death of Odin Lloyd
- Families of two men gunned down in separate shootings file wrongful death lawsuits
- Meanwhile, Hernandez has been moved to a more restrictive jail unit after a fight
The $6 million lawsuits
were filed Wednesday on behalf of the families of Daniel Abreu and
Safiro Furtado, according to court papers.
Hernandez, who is being
held on charges related to another slaying, has not been charged in
connection with the deaths of Abreu and Furtado.
The lawsuits claim that
Hernandez "recklessly" and "maliciously" shot a firearm from his vehicle
into a vehicle carrying Abreu and Furtado, killing them.
The two men were shot and killed in Boston while riding in a 2003 BMW. Two others in the car survived.
At a news conference
Wednesday, Salvatore Furtado said his son, Safiro, "was a good boy, a
hard worker, very intelligent," according to a woman who interpreted his
comments from his native Cape Verdean dialect.
Daniel Abreu supported the family and worked two jobs, his father, Ernesto, said.
The prosecutor's office
of Suffolk County has not identified any suspects in this case,
according to Jack Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney
Daniel Conley.
The investigation by the
homicide unit of the Boston police and Suffolk County district attorney
is ongoing and "very active," Wark said.
Civil suits may be filed
while a criminal investigation is ongoing, but the step is unusual,
said CNN legal analyst Paul Callan. Civil and criminal cases, however,
have different standards of proof.
The loss of Abreu and Furtado should matter and there is no reason to wait, said attorney William T. Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Hernandez has been moved to a more restrictive jail unit while a fight with another inmate is
investigated, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told CNN Thursday.
Hodgson said the move wasn't disciplinary but rather standard procedure.
Hernandez has been
placed in a higher-level security unit and is allowed out of his cell
for one hour a day, the sheriff said. He will not interact with other
prisoners and must wear handcuffs and leg shackles.
In January, unsealed court documents revealed that police had directly suggested that the former tight end may have pulled the trigger in the unsolved double homicides.
"There is ... probable
cause to believe that Aaron Hernandez was operating the suspect vehicle
used in the shooting homicides ... and may have been the shooter," said a
recently unsealed warrant from June 2013.
The warrant was used to
search a bag of clothes with Hernandez's name on it and a Toyota 4Runner
linked to him that, according to court documents, was seen at the scene
of the crime by witnesses the night of the killings.
CNN has reported that a
grand jury has been looking into whether Hernandez played a role in the
drive-by shooting, said law enforcement sources in January.
Hernandez is awaiting trial on murder charges in the 2013 shooting death of his friend Odin Lloyd. He has pleaded not guilty.
Lloyd's family also filed a wrongful death suit against Hernandez in December, according to Kevin Phelan, the family's attorney.
Hernandez is also named in another civil suit.
A man that sources have
described as Hernandez's "muscle man," Alexander Bradley, has filed a
civil lawsuit accusing Hernandez of shooting him in the face during an
argument after they left a Florida strip club in February 2013.
Bradley lost sight in one eye because of the shooting, according to the lawsuit.
CNN's attempts to reach Hernandez's attorney were unsuccessful.
CNN's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
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