Cellphone video taken moments after
former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith was shot dead recorded an unidentified bystander saying the athlete was the first to claim to have a gun.
The witness doesn’t name the men exchanging angry words — but he seems to accuse Smith of being the aggressor before he was killed in the Lower Garden District at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
“This guy was like, ‘Get out of the f–king car, I have a gun,’ ” the witness said allegedly of Smith in footage posted Monday by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
“And he [supposedly then referring to suspect Cardell Hayes] goes, ‘F–k y’all, I got one, too,’ and he [Hayes] grabs a gun and shoots him [Smith] in the back. He’s dead.”
Smith, 34, was shot in the back and side after a fender bender, according to a police warrant. Hayes, 28, has been booked on second-degree murder charges and held in lieu of $1 million bail.