Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL superstar accused of killing a friend, was a hardcore drug user who frequently used "angel dust" and had become so paranoid he regularly carried a handgun, according to a damning profile of the football player in this month's Rolling Stone magazine.
Hernandez was indicted last week in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd, a semipro football player and landscaper who frequently partied with the former New England Patriots tight end. He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 6.
The profile, by Paul Solotaroff with Ron Borges, portrays Hernandez as a talented but deeply troubled individual who scored a 1 out of 10 on an NFL psychological exam, and who surrounded himself with "gangsters" and criminals.
In the lead up to Lloyd's death, Rolling Stone reports friends close to Hernandez, speaking to the magazine anonymously, said he was using the drug "angel dust and convinced himself that his life was in danger, carrying a gun wherever he went."
Angel dust is a street name for the powerful hallucinogen and dissociative drug PCP.
Hernandez was a driven teenager, who grew up in Bristol, Conn., running drills and doing squats in his basement with his older brother. The death of their father, an ex-convict, when Hernandez was a teenager sent him into a tailspin, getting into drugs and hanging out with "thugs," Rolling Stone reported.
At the University of Florida, where he played with Tim Tebow and was taken under the wing of Bible-thumping coach Urban Meyer, Hernandez continued to find trouble.
The article alleges that Meyer may have covered up drug tests Hernandez allegedly failed, as well as the player's possible involvement in a 2010 drive-by shootout outside a nightclub. Hernandez was never charged or named a suspect in that crime.
Meyer has denied the allegations of a cover-up.
