Will Smith Killing: Surveillance Video & Loaded Gun Found May Alter Outcome

In case you missed it, the former NFL player from the Saints, Will Smith, was shot and killed this past week during a road rage incident and his wife shot in the leg.

From the surveillance video, it appears that Smith may have hit his accused killer and drove off. Then his accused killer proceeds to follow Will Smith's truck, assuming the shooting happened soon after. 

When police first described the slaying of former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith, their account of what unfolded was simple.

There was a vehicle crash, police said, followed by a heated exchange and a deadly shooting after the suspect brandished a gun.

But the story of exactly what happened on the streets of New Orleans on Saturday night is getting more complicated.

The latest clues in the high-profile case: Surveillance footage and the discovery of loaded weapons inside Smith's vehicles days after police towed them away from the scene.

Cardell Hayes was the man in the Hummer and Smith in the Mercedes Jeep. Hayes' lawyer insists his client wasn't the aggressor, but the victim of a hit-and-run.

"Someone hit him, the person failed to pull over," 

attorney John Fuller told reporters. 

"My client trailed behind this person in an effort to get this license plate number. My client also called 911."

CNN -  

They found Smith's body "in the middle of the street, partially inside of his vehicle, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the body," 

the police report said. 

"He died at the scene." 

Hayes was still there. That he didn't leave -- and, moreover, that he'd secured a witness who was heading out -- is telling, according to his lawyer. 

"Now, tell me if that's the behavior that's consistent with someone who's an animal out here looking for blood," 

Fuller said. 

"His actions are totally consistent with someone that is complying with a police investigation." 

Detectives also found a fully loaded 9-millimeter handgun inside Smith's vehicle on 

Tuesday morning, police said. Investigators also found a fully loaded revolver inside Hayes' vehicle. 

"No bullet casings were found inside either vehicle, and no ballistic evidence was recovered to show that either weapon was fired during the incident," police said.

But did those weapons play any role in what unfolded Saturday night? Police haven't said. At least one witness has said he heard two men shouting about having guns before the shooting.

After the Saturday night shooting, police confiscated one gun at the scene: the .45-caliber handgun they say Hayes used to shoot Smith and his wife. Hayes is charged with second-degree murder.

Before the murder, Will Smith was on his way back from having dinner with former New Orleans police Capt. Billy Ceravolo, former New Orleans Saint Pierre Thomas, a sports agent and the restaurant's former owner, according to the restaurant's general manager. Officer Ceravolo was among a group of officers named in a 2006 lawsuit Hayes filed over his father's death. So far, police say that case doesn't have anything to do with Saturday's events. But they're still investigating.

Pierre Thomas rushed to the murder scene that happened right after their dinner. 

Photo: Former #Saint Pierre Thomas distraught at scene of Will Smith's murder on #NewOrleans pic.twitter.com/3BbaEYI1lX

— Michael DeMocker (@MichaelDeMocker) April 10, 2016

"I witnessed a close friend, teammate and a man that I thought of as one of my big brothers in the NFL shot to death over a F***ING FENDER BENDER!!!! Why!? I just don't get it," 

Thomas wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday.

Story developing...