NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The suspect in the death of Will Smith said he shot in self-defense because he feared the retired New Orleans Saints star, although unarmed, was going for a gun as they argued over a car crash.
''It was self-defense,'' Cardell Hayes can be heard telling detectives in a recording of an interview made hours after the shooting.
A 911 recording made moments after the fatal shots documented other key details. Played in court on Friday, it captured Hayes telling an off-duty police officer that he had to shoot, because Smith was about to get a gun.