[rlmorel]

Is it me, or is everyone pooh-poohing completely the fact that the deceased player had dinner earlier that night with one of the cops who was a defendant in his father’s death?

That seems like one hell of a coincidence.

[libstripper]

That struck me initially, too, and I posted a comment saying it might have been premeditated murder. Now that it looks like Smith did not pull his (probably legally carried) pistol it appears even more that this was a premeditated murder, not road rage.

[Kirkwood]

But video shows Smith's vehicle in a hit and run with the Hayes vehicle. That kind of throws cold water on your theory and makes it more into a road rage incident. Plus why would the cops release Hayes’ passenger at the scene if the cops thought it was some kind of orchestrated payback?

[b4its2late]

Yep, I saw that in the story. But at the time they did not know if there was a connection. Maybe there was.