On Monday, the prosecution’s star witness, Alexander Bradley, took the stand. Bradley is a one-time friend of Hernandez who admitted to driving the getaway vehicle after Hernandez fired five shots at the victims in the BMW.
Bradley took the stand and first spoke about the events leading up to the shooting. He told the jury that one of victims had bumped into Hernandez and greatly upset him. Bradley said that he convinced Hernandez to leave the Cure Nightclub for a new spot and Hernandez reluctantly agreed.
However, Bradley said Hernandez remained upset and would say things like people always think they can “play him” and continued to get more angry. Bradley said he tried to tell Hernandez he had too much to lose, but Hernandez just couldn’t get the incident out of his mind, repeating that the men at Cure had “tried him.” Bradley said this was not the first time Hernandez has acted out at a nightclub and he had concerns about Hernandez’s temper.
They finally went to another bar until Hernandez saw a man who looked similar to the victim and that enraged him even more, and gave him the impression he was being followed, Bradley testified. At that point, Bradley said he suggested they leave and Hernandez agreed. The two, according to Bradley, walked around and smoked weed for a while, before they returned to the SUV
Bradley admitted to initially riding in the passenger seat at some point in the night, but he swore that he was driving at the time of the shooting. According to Bradley, Hernandez popped the hood of the SUV and retrieved the revolver he has hidden near the engine block. Bradley then described the shooting scene.
Bradley testified that they spotted the victims in the BMW after Hernandez said something like “there they go.” and so Bradley gave pursuit in the SUV. He said they eventually caught up with the BMW at a stoplight, but Bradley said he never though Hernandez would actually fire shots.
As they were lined up with the car, Bradley said Hernandez told him to roll down the window.
“I rolled the window down, and when we got up to the car, as we were approaching, he [Hernandez] put his hand up to my chest and pushed me back,” Bradley described.
As they pulled up next to the BMW, Bradley claims Hernandez said, “Yo,” to get the occupants attention and then yelled once more before he started firing five rounds into the BMW.
“He fired five shots — five rounds, and then I heard like three or four clicks coming from the gun,” Bradley testified. “I turned my head [away] and Hernandez was like, ‘Go. Come on let’s go.'”
Authorities have said only five shots were used to kill two occupants of the BMW and injure one more. Two additional passengers walked away without injury.
[image via screengrab]
