Eric Woodrow Hayes, 41, was shot and killed late on July 24, 2021, in an alley near the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo, between the Bison Turf bar and a Loaf ’N Jug. Police were called for reports of shots fired around 11:00 p.m.; Hayes was found with a gunshot wound, transported to a hospital, and pronounced dead. The man arrested at the scene was 40-year-old Raymond Gunn, who had reportedly not known Hayes before the encounter.

At trial Gunn’s defense argued he acted in self-defense and that Hayes was armed with a knife, while prosecutors said Gunn was the aggressor who started the fight. After about nine hours of jury deliberation over two days, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty in March 2022. Testimony indicated both Gunn and a companion stayed at the scene and cooperated with police. The state medical examiner reported Hayes had a small amount of methamphetamine in his system and a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal driving limit.

Did anyone in the area witness the alleyway confrontation or the moments before it?