Disgraced American football star O.J. Simpson has been released from jail on parole early Sunday.

Simpson was charged for murder and armed robbery in 1995.

Simpson, 70, left the Lovelock Correctional Center in the western state of Nevada just after midnight Saturday, prison spokesperson Brooke Keast said. “I don’t know where he was headed,” Keast said.

Keast said, the dead-of-night release from the prison located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Reno, Nevada, was conducted to avoid media attention.

“We needed to do this to ensure public safety and to avoid any possible incident,” Keast added, speaking by telephone.

Azeez