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| Murder of football hero Will Smith leaves New Orleans aching for change | Murder of football hero Will Smith leaves New Orleans aching for change |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| On Friday evening the Saints football team hosted a memorial and viewing for former player Will Smith, who on 9 April was shot to death in an apparent road rage incident. The ceremony was muted and meticulous – belying the confused circumstances of Smith’s death and the city of New Orleans’s broader reaction. | On Friday evening the Saints football team hosted a memorial and viewing for former player Will Smith, who on 9 April was shot to death in an apparent road rage incident. The ceremony was muted and meticulous – belying the confused circumstances of Smith’s death and the city of New Orleans’s broader reaction. |
| Related: Sean Payton's attack on guns was clear and courageous. His words mattered | Les Carpenter | Related: Sean Payton's attack on guns was clear and courageous. His words mattered | Les Carpenter |
| Smith’s shooting represents a collision of two of the most powerful and ever-present forces in the city: the threat of public violence, and the saving grace of the New Orleans Saints. | Smith’s shooting represents a collision of two of the most powerful and ever-present forces in the city: the threat of public violence, and the saving grace of the New Orleans Saints. |
| Both, like so much of what happens here, may be difficult at first for outsiders to understand. | Both, like so much of what happens here, may be difficult at first for outsiders to understand. |
| Smith died a week ago, about 11.30pm, collapsed halfway into the driver’s seat of his silver Mercedes SUV. Initial reports were tragic but relatively simple: the 34-year-old athlete had died after the the driver of an orange Hummer, 28-year-old Cardell Hayes, hit Smith’s car and then shot him in an ensuing confrontation. | Smith died a week ago, about 11.30pm, collapsed halfway into the driver’s seat of his silver Mercedes SUV. Initial reports were tragic but relatively simple: the 34-year-old athlete had died after the the driver of an orange Hummer, 28-year-old Cardell Hayes, hit Smith’s car and then shot him in an ensuing confrontation. |
| Since then, though, the picture has grown more complex. | Since then, though, the picture has grown more complex. |
| There are, first, complications to the physical series of events leading to the homicide. Security footage from businesses a few streets away showed that minutes before the shooting, the situation had played out in reverse: Smith’s Mercedes rear-ended Hayes’s Hummer. After a moment’s pause Hayes started to pull to the curb, but Smith surged into the oncoming lane, swerved around Hayes, and accelerated away. A hit and run. | There are, first, complications to the physical series of events leading to the homicide. Security footage from businesses a few streets away showed that minutes before the shooting, the situation had played out in reverse: Smith’s Mercedes rear-ended Hayes’s Hummer. After a moment’s pause Hayes started to pull to the curb, but Smith surged into the oncoming lane, swerved around Hayes, and accelerated away. A hit and run. |
| Peter Thomson, an attorney for the Smith family, said Smith and his wife, Raquel, pulled away from the scene because they feared for their safety, and didn’t see any damage to the Hummer. | Peter Thomson, an attorney for the Smith family, said Smith and his wife, Raquel, pulled away from the scene because they feared for their safety, and didn’t see any damage to the Hummer. |
| Hayes then followed Smith for several blocks. The final security footage was taken about a block from the site of the shooting, and shows a dark-colored Chevrolet Impala driving along Sophie Wright Place, followed by the two large, careening SUVs. | Hayes then followed Smith for several blocks. The final security footage was taken about a block from the site of the shooting, and shows a dark-colored Chevrolet Impala driving along Sophie Wright Place, followed by the two large, careening SUVs. |
| Moments later, off-camera, the Hummer hit the Mercedes, which then hit the Impala. Witnesses say the two men confronted each other while Smith’s wife stayed in the passenger’s seat of the Mercedes. | Moments later, off-camera, the Hummer hit the Mercedes, which then hit the Impala. Witnesses say the two men confronted each other while Smith’s wife stayed in the passenger’s seat of the Mercedes. |
| After some words, Hayes opened fire with a .45 caliber pistol, shooting Smith eight times, seven of which were in his back. He also shot Smith’s wife once in each leg. There was a loaded pistol in Smith’s Mercedes, police said, but it remained unfired. | After some words, Hayes opened fire with a .45 caliber pistol, shooting Smith eight times, seven of which were in his back. He also shot Smith’s wife once in each leg. There was a loaded pistol in Smith’s Mercedes, police said, but it remained unfired. |
| ‘Odd’ circumstances of the case | ‘Odd’ circumstances of the case |
| Beyond the complexity of the scene itself, there is this strange connection between the two men: in December 2005, when the city was still tattered by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans police shot and killed Hayes’s father, Anthony, as he exited a drugstore. Police said Anthony, who was mentally ill, had moved toward William Ceravolo while holding a knife. The Hayes family sued the city for wrongful death and won an undisclosed settlement. | |
| Just minutes before Smith first bumped Hayes’s car, Smith had shared a sushi dinner with William Ceravolo – the officer at the center of the wrongful death suit. And as police led a handcuffed Hayes away from the shooting site, photographs from the scene show now-retired Ceravolo standing to the side, watching. | Just minutes before Smith first bumped Hayes’s car, Smith had shared a sushi dinner with William Ceravolo – the officer at the center of the wrongful death suit. And as police led a handcuffed Hayes away from the shooting site, photographs from the scene show now-retired Ceravolo standing to the side, watching. |
| On Friday Hayes’s attorney, John Fuller, sent a letter to New Orleans police chief Michael Harrison and Louisiana state police requesting that state or federal authorities take over the case. The circumstances were, he wrote, “odd”. | On Friday Hayes’s attorney, John Fuller, sent a letter to New Orleans police chief Michael Harrison and Louisiana state police requesting that state or federal authorities take over the case. The circumstances were, he wrote, “odd”. |
| All of those circumstances, whether coincidence or something more, played out against a tableau of violence and police mistrust that pervades New Orleans today. Residents talk of brazen killings, shootouts in public, and a sense that police have withdrawn from the streets. In 2011 a group of criminologists studied New Orleans’s crime patterns and concluded “the citizens of New Orleans are right in identifying crime as a serious problem facing their city. | All of those circumstances, whether coincidence or something more, played out against a tableau of violence and police mistrust that pervades New Orleans today. Residents talk of brazen killings, shootouts in public, and a sense that police have withdrawn from the streets. In 2011 a group of criminologists studied New Orleans’s crime patterns and concluded “the citizens of New Orleans are right in identifying crime as a serious problem facing their city. |
| “However, it is not crime in general, property crime, or even total violent crime that is the problem. The crime problem facing New Orleans is the problem of homicide.” | “However, it is not crime in general, property crime, or even total violent crime that is the problem. The crime problem facing New Orleans is the problem of homicide.” |
| One former New Orleans city detective, who declined to be identified, said: “There just aren’t enough police, and the bad guys are figuring it out.” | |
| In the past few years, thanks to budget crises, hiring freezes and a multitude of other issues, New Orleans has lost about a quarter of its police force. In May 2010 the department had 1,540 officers. It now has 1,163. | In the past few years, thanks to budget crises, hiring freezes and a multitude of other issues, New Orleans has lost about a quarter of its police force. In May 2010 the department had 1,540 officers. It now has 1,163. |
| Put simply, the city is broke. | Put simply, the city is broke. |
| On the very day Smith died, city residents voted down a 7.5 mill property tax designed to hire new officers. But less than 10% of the city’s voters turned out: the vote happened during the French Quarter Festival, the city’s largest free festival, for which locals came out in droves. Smith himself attended, posting photos from the festival to Instagram. | On the very day Smith died, city residents voted down a 7.5 mill property tax designed to hire new officers. But less than 10% of the city’s voters turned out: the vote happened during the French Quarter Festival, the city’s largest free festival, for which locals came out in droves. Smith himself attended, posting photos from the festival to Instagram. |
| ‘An assault on the spirit’ | ‘An assault on the spirit’ |
| At Friday’s memorial, thousands of New Orleanians streamed through the Saints’ indoor practice facility to pay homage to Smith, who was a defensive captain and local hero. The Saints evoke a particular type of affection in New Orleans bound to the recent history: after Hurricane Katrina the city struggled to rebuild itself and its confidence, and the Saints mirrored that effort. Their run in 2009, culminating in a Super Bowl win, united and lifted the city, and restored in its residents the notion that New Orleans is a worthy metropolis, not merely a disaster site dependent on federal rescue. | At Friday’s memorial, thousands of New Orleanians streamed through the Saints’ indoor practice facility to pay homage to Smith, who was a defensive captain and local hero. The Saints evoke a particular type of affection in New Orleans bound to the recent history: after Hurricane Katrina the city struggled to rebuild itself and its confidence, and the Saints mirrored that effort. Their run in 2009, culminating in a Super Bowl win, united and lifted the city, and restored in its residents the notion that New Orleans is a worthy metropolis, not merely a disaster site dependent on federal rescue. |
| The crime problem facing New Orleans is the problem of homicide | The crime problem facing New Orleans is the problem of homicide |
| So fans wept openly on Friday evening in the Saints’ darkened, cavernous practice field, as a trumpeter played When the Saints Go Marching In. On one end of the field Smith’s family and colleagues gathered and murmured quietly, while at the 50-yard line a stream of public visitors – thousands of them – passed Smith’s casket. | So fans wept openly on Friday evening in the Saints’ darkened, cavernous practice field, as a trumpeter played When the Saints Go Marching In. On one end of the field Smith’s family and colleagues gathered and murmured quietly, while at the 50-yard line a stream of public visitors – thousands of them – passed Smith’s casket. |
| Related: Mississippi bill allows firearms training for armed church security guards | Related: Mississippi bill allows firearms training for armed church security guards |
| Smith’s killing was the 31st so far this year in New Orleans. But it was the first that seemed to seize the city’s attention. | Smith’s killing was the 31st so far this year in New Orleans. But it was the first that seemed to seize the city’s attention. |
| Gene Sausse, who had known Smith, wiped tears from his eyes. “In some ways I feel worse about this than Katrina,” he said. “It’s a physical assault on the spirit of the city. The violence of it.” | Gene Sausse, who had known Smith, wiped tears from his eyes. “In some ways I feel worse about this than Katrina,” he said. “It’s a physical assault on the spirit of the city. The violence of it.” |
| Tony LeMon, the assistant district attorney from St Tammany Parish, attended wearing Smith’s No 91 Saints jersey, with Smith’s autograph on the chest. The two had worked together on charity events, he said. “He did a lot of good,” LeMon said. | Tony LeMon, the assistant district attorney from St Tammany Parish, attended wearing Smith’s No 91 Saints jersey, with Smith’s autograph on the chest. The two had worked together on charity events, he said. “He did a lot of good,” LeMon said. |
| Smith’s death has sparked a conversation on guns, in particular, that has never been broadly held in New Orleans. A few days ago Saints coach Sean Payton openly called for gun control and said, “I hate guns.” | Smith’s death has sparked a conversation on guns, in particular, that has never been broadly held in New Orleans. A few days ago Saints coach Sean Payton openly called for gun control and said, “I hate guns.” |
| Did LeMon think Smith’s death would serve as a catalyst for change? | Did LeMon think Smith’s death would serve as a catalyst for change? |
| “You hope it does,” he said. “You hope it changes the hearts of some people who have violent tendencies.” | “You hope it does,” he said. “You hope it changes the hearts of some people who have violent tendencies.” |