Slain Former NFL Star Will Smith’s Wife, Raquel Smith, Was Deliberately Shot First

Attorney Peter Thomson held a press conference Wednesday to discuss the shooting that killed former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith this past Saturday night in New Orleans.

According to Thomson, Will Smith’s wife, Raquel Smith, was deliberately shot first in the altercation that left her husband dead.

She’s currently being treated for gunshot wounds to each of her legs at University Medical Center.

via NOLA.com:

Thomson said Racquel Smith and another woman passenger in Smith’s SUV got out and attempted to “defuse” the situation.

“(Racquel Smith) was actually telling the shooter, before the shooting occurred, ‘Leave us alone. Go back to your car. We have children. This is not worth this,'” Thomson said. “And holding her hand up to him to ask him to stop.”

Thomson said that Racquel Smith walked her husband back to their vehicle, but that “the killer follows them” and shot Smith’s wife in both her legs, from the side, as she stood with her husband on the driver’s side of their SUV. Thomson said one .45-caliber bullet fractured her right femur near her knee, and another went through her left thigh.

“Moments later, the killer unloads six to eight shots into Will’s back,” Thomson said. “The killer shot Will Smith into the back eight times, and there were at least 10 shots that we know were fired. At no time during this event did Will Smith either brandish or carry a firearm.”

Will Smith’s death “has been preliminarily classified as a homicide. According to the coroner, he was shot eight times, including seven times in the back.

28-year-old Cardell Hayes has been charged with second-degree murder. Cardell claims that he was “not the aggressor” in the incident.