An Oregon man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for fatally shooting a man who stopped to help a woman he heard crying inside a car.
Arvoni Alexander Hayes, 25, was sentenced Friday, Sept. 11, after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon with a firearm, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
He will also serve three years of post-prison supervision.
The deadly encounter happened on July 14, 2024, near Normandale Park in Northeast Portland.
Aaron McInnis was dropping off a friend when another man asked him to help check on a woman who could be heard crying inside a nearby vehicle, prosecutors said.
The two men approached the car and found Hayes inside with the woman, who was his girlfriend.
According to prosecutors, Hayes got out of the car naked and eventually agreed to leave the woman alone.
He slowly began getting dressed, but then suddenly jumped back into the vehicle and yelled at his girlfriend to drive away.
McInnis ran after the car as it sped off.
At a nearby intersection, Hayes got out of the vehicle and opened fire, hitting McInnis three times, prosecutors said.
McInnis was rushed to Oregon Health and Science University, where he later died.
Court records cited by KOIN and The Oregonian described the final moments slightly differently. Those accounts said the car stopped nearby and McInnis began approaching it again before Hayes opened fire.
Hayes was arrested in September 2024, nearly two months after the killing.
He later pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon.
McInnis, 30, was a father who worked as a sales representative in the Portland area.
His family described him as someone who loved ice hockey, music and books and was deeply devoted to his young son.
Relatives submitted victim-impact statements remembering the kind of person McInnis was.
“That day, he saw someone he believed might need help and asked if she was okay,” one family member wrote. “That was Aaron.”
Deputy District Attorney Eric Palmer called McInnis “a hero to the very end.”
“He did not hesitate to check on the safety of a stranger and tragically lost his life to the defendant’s cowardly shooting,” Palmer said.
“Today, we honor the hero and send the defendant to prison.”
This is why one should Never get involved with some idiot woman and her “boyfriend “. Never.
Hayes and his girlfriend are back together now.