Surveillance video taken from a restaurant on Saturday night showed what appeared to be Smith’s Mercedes SUV rear-ending a Hummer.
Advertisement
Gabriella Ortiz, of New Orleans, pauses at a makeshift memorial in New Orleans, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, near the spot where former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith was shot and killed, and his wife wounded by gunf…
Former Saints player Will Smith was shot to death April 9 after a crash in the Lower Garden District.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert). Peter Thomson, attorney for the family of former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith, who was shot and killed after a traffic accident last Saturday, speaks to reporters at University Medical Center in New Orleans, We…
That view was echoed by Nikole Jessie, who used to live down the street from where Smith was shot.
Four days after the fatal shooting, Thomson laid out a version of what happened that he said was based on the recollections of Racquel Smith and other witnesses, seeking to dispel what he called “lies and factual distortion” spread by the man police identified as Smith’s killer.
In the tumultuous aftermath of Smith’s death, competing narratives have emerged about the minutes leading up to the shooting. “No one else was injured in the gunfire”, police said in the statement.
John Fuller, a lawyer for Hummer driver Cardell Hayes, has said his client felt threatened and was not the aggressor.
Hayes, 28, is being held on $1 million bond after police arrested him on a charge of second-degree murder.
A lawyer for Hayes’ passenger, Kevin O’Neal, said Wednesday that “In my mind this is justifiable homicide”.
A brief time later, the Hummer rammed the Mercedes at a high-rate of speed, causing the back windshield of the Mercedes to shatter, Thomson said. “They were afraid, they don’t know what’s going on”, Thomson said. Thomson called Hayes “enraged”.
Police say the two men did exchange words, after which shots were fired. “She is shot immediately in both legs and she collapses”, Thomson said.
The coroner, Jeffery Rouse, also added a toxicology report would be available in six to eight weeks. Police haven’t released the accounts of Racquel Smith, the passengers in the other cars, nor any other witnesses. An additional charge for Smith’s wife’s injury is pending further investigation, ” the statement said.
Fuller explained that one woman, a bystander, even claims she saw something happen on the scene regarding the gun that now has her very concerned.
Hayes’ Facebook page is filled with pictures of him on the set of comedy movie 22 Jump Street, including one of him hugging a man he says is Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. But authorities said there was no evidence to suggest either weapon was sacked during the Saturday shooting and said that Smith’s gun was fully loaded when found during a search of the vehicles Tuesday morning.
‘He is completely competent and completely aware of what he did, ‘ Mr Fuller said.
As the couple headed back to their SUV, Thomson said, Hayes came back brandishing a 45-caliber handgun. Another gun, also loaded but unfired, was found inside Hayes’ Hummer. In addition to Smith and his wife, Racquel, there were another male and female in his vehicle. With Fuller representing him, Hayes eventually got a suspended six-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2014 to illegally carrying a weapon and possessing drug paraphernalia.
Advertisement
Smith, who was shot seven times in the back, is survived by his wife and three children.
