{"id":15136,"date":"2016-04-14T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/lawyer-smith-held-no-gun-as-he-was-shot-in-the-back\/"},"modified":"2016-04-14T08:00:31","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T15:00:31","slug":"lawyer-smith-held-no-gun-as-he-was-shot-in-the-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/lawyer-smith-held-no-gun-as-he-was-shot-in-the-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer: Smith held no gun as he was shot in the back"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW ORLEANS<\/strong> \u2014 Former Saints defensive end Will Smith was shot multiple times in the back after his killer deliberately rammed his Hummer into the NFL veteran\u2019s Mercedes SUV, but Smith never pulled out his own handgun as he tried to protect his wife, the Smith family\u2019s lawyer said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Throughout the confrontation, Smith\u2019s licensed 9 mm handgun remained loaded but unused in a compartment inside his car, attorney Peter Thomson said.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Hummer driver Cardell Hayes, who is jailed on $1 million bond after being arrested by police on a murder charge, said his client felt threatened Saturday night and was not the aggressor. But Thomson called this a lie and a distortion, and said the real victims were Smith and his wife Racquel, who ended up hospitalized with bullet wounds in both legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly this Hummer drove up at great speed behind them and rammed into them violently, causing their back windshield to shatter, their heads to whip back, and their car to hit the Chevy Impala in front of them,\u201d said Thomson, who described the ramming of the car as aggravated battery.<\/p>\n

Hayes and his passenger then got out and angrily approached Smith, who asked why they were attacking him, Thomson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driver, who I understand is the killer in this case, is enraged,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s wife and another female passenger in their car got out to defuse the situation, and walked Smith back to his car, \u201cbut the killer follows,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, two shots are fired. She is shot immediately in both legs and she collapses. Either immediately or moments thereafter, the killer unloads six to eight shots into Will\u2019s back,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you the killer showed no remorse whatsoever, and actually stood over Will Smith\u2019s dead body as his wife crawled away,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Thomson said Hayes shot Smith eight times in the back. The coroner\u2019s report, released Wednesday, clarified that seven of the bullets hit his back and one in the left side of his chest.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed that a 9 mm handgun, loaded but unfired, was found inside Smith\u2019s SUV. Police also said that Hayes acknowledged at the scene that he fired his 45-caliber handgun at Smith and his wife; and that police also found a second loaded but unfired gun \u2014 a revolver \u2014 inside Hayes\u2019 Hummer.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the argument, Hayes produced a 45-caliber handgun and opened fire, striking Smith and his wife. No one else was injured in the gunfire,\u201d a police statement said. \u201cAn additional charge for Smith\u2019s wife\u2019s injury is pending further investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomson read a brief statement from Racquel Smith, who remains hospitalized, he said, after one bullet fractured her right femur near the knee and another passed through her left thigh, into her left knee.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe considered him her Superman, and that night, as he always does, (he) was protecting her,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no dispute at this point that the deadly confrontation was precipitated by an earlier encounter, which Hayes\u2019 lawyer described as a \u201chit and run.\u201d Thomson rebutted that, saying the Hummer had stopped suddenly, causing Smith to brake quickly, but that any contact between them was nothing more than a slight bump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consensus in the car was, \u2018we didn\u2019t hit this vehicle, there\u2019s no damage, it\u2019s late at night,\u2019 so out of concern for their safety and because they don\u2019t know why this Hummer had stopped so suddenly, and seeing no damage whatsoever, they continued,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing, nothing, Will Smith could have ever said\u201d to justify the shooting, Thomson concluded.<\/p>\n

The case has riveted a city where Smith was a fan favorite.<\/p>\n

Attorney John Fuller has insisted that Hayes, 28, will be vindicated once the full story emerges. He said Hayes had responsibly called 911 and was following the vehicle that hit him to read the license plate number moments before the fatal confrontation.<\/p>\n

A public visitation will be held Friday to honor Smith and a private funeral and burial will be held Saturday.<\/p>\n

Smith came to New Orleans from Ohio State and quickly became a team leader. After retirement, he chose to stay in his adopted community, showing his commitment to the city as it recovered from Hurricane Katrina and supporting a foundation that helped women and children.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show the lawyer\u2019s name is Peter Thomson, not Robert Thompson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW ORLEANS \u2014 Former Saints defensive end Will Smith was shot multiple times in the back after his killer deliberately rammed his Hummer into the NFL veteran\u2019s Mercedes SUV, but Smith never pulled out his own handgun as he tried to protect his wife, the Smith family\u2019s lawyer said Wednesday. Throughout the confrontation, Smith\u2019s licensed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15136"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}