A passenger who was riding in the car with Cardell Hayes the night Will Smith was murdered claims Hayes saved his life by shooting the former NFL defensive end.
Tanzanike Ruffin, the attorney for Hayes’ passenger Kevin Oneale, released a statement Tuesday night labeling Hayes’ actions “justifiable homicide.”
“My client believes that Cardell saved his life,” Ruffin said, via WDSU in New Orleans. “Smith had a gun and was going to shoot it and Cardell may have saved both of their lives … in my mind this is justifiable homicide. Was Will Smith acting like a Saint? This was a hit-and-run that ended up in a tragedy. You’ve got the aggression of two football players, facing off with each other as if they are on the field and you are going to get your point across by any means necessary.”
In an update provided on Tuesday, the New Orleans Police Department said three loaded weapons were found at the scene of the crime over the weekend. One of them was a loaded handgun that was recovered from Smith’s Mercedes SUV. The other two came from the Hummer that Hayes was driving, and only the .45 caliber believed to be in Hayes’ possession had been fired.
A video that was obtained by The Times-Picayune shows footage of the aftermath of the shooting that was taken from a bystander’s cell phone. In the video, a witness claims he heard someone say “get out of here or I have a gun.”
“And he goes, ‘F— y’all, I got one too,'” the witness described. “And he grabs the gun and then he shoots him in the back. He’s dead.”
Surveillance footage that we shared with you earlier this week appears to show that Smith and Hayes were involved in a hit-and-run minutes before Smith was killed. Investigators clearly have a lot to sort through to determine exactly what happened.
