Hernandez, news editor of a popular tabloid daily, People’s Journal Tonight, for which he wrote a column called “Sunday Punch,” was fatally shot in a taxi after leaving the Journal office just before dawn. It was later learned the taxi had been stolen hours earlier and was apparently waiting for him, police said. Colleagues said Hernandez had told them he had been receiving death threats from members of drug rings. He specialized in exposing drug syndicates and police corruption.