Aaron McInnis was 30 years old, and by every account of that July 2024 night in Northeast Portland, he wasn't looking for trouble. He was worried about a woman he didn't know, crying inside a parked car near Normandale Park. He asked the man with her, Arvoni Hayes, to step out and talk. Hayes shot him to death. On Friday, more than two years later, Hayes was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
What Happened That Night
According to court documents, Hayes was inside the parked car, naked, calling the woman with him his "b----," when McInnis approached and asked him to leave her alone. Hayes got out, agreed to walk away — then suddenly dove back into the car and ordered the woman to drive off. McInnis ran after them on foot.
Hayes stopped the car at a nearby intersection. As McInnis approached on foot, Hayes got out and opened fire, hitting him multiple times before fleeing the scene.
A Plea Deal, Not a Murder Trial
Hayes was arrested about two months after the shooting. In July, he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon; as part of the deal, prosecutors dropped the murder charge. Friday's sentence — 18 years in prison plus three years of post-prison supervision — closes the case without the trial that a murder charge would have required.
Remembered as a "Hero"
McInnis's death was covered at the time as the story of a good Samaritan killed for checking on a stranger's safety, and that framing has stuck through sentencing. He didn't know the woman in the car. He didn't know Hayes. He asked a question that, in a different version of that night, changes nothing — and in this one, cost him his life.
