Here’s a story we’ve never encountered before. (That’s a reaction we seem to have all too often when covering the NFL.)
49ers linebacker Aldon Smith and Titans tight end Delanie Walker face a lawsuit in California. According to CSNBayArea.com, a man named Ronndale Esporlas contends that he was shot while attending a party hosted by Smith.
Smith, per the lawsuit, hosted a party at his home on June 29, 2012, at a cover charge of $10 and a per-drink cost of $5.
Esporlas claims that, when the time came to end the party, Smith and Walker “appeared on the balcony of the house, brandished handguns, and began shooting in the air.” Esporlas contends that Walker then made his way to the driveway of the home, where Walker “began firing a handgun in the air and towards others attending the party.” Which then allegedly prompted a group of people near the street to begin firing gunshots back toward Smith’s house.
Esporlas claims he was caught in the crossfire, struck twice with bullets, and “sustained serious, catastrophic and permanent injuries.”
Both Smith and Walker were allegedly intoxicated.
The date of the party, which started on the evening of June 29, 2012 and continued into June 30, meshes with an incident that resulted in Smith being stabbed in the shoulder and abdomen while he tried to break up a fight at a large party. Per the reports that emerged at the time, Smith and two persons who sustained gunshot wounds were treated at a local hospital.
The suit was filed on Tuesday, five days before the 49ers open the 2013 regular season with a home game against the Packers.