Marlins’ Brett Hayes comes face to face with gunman in Miami

Why should you follow the Twitter feeds of athletes? Because sometimes you’ll see some amazing things.

Take the Twitter feed of Miami Marlins catcher Brett Hayes. On his Twitter page Thursday, he tweeted the following:

“Sitting in traffic on the turnpike and a man with a gun just walked by our car. Not good.”

What? A guy with a gun? It turns out he was witnessing the man who shot two Miami police officers, then shot himself.

“He and I made [eye] contact, and he looked like he was up to no good,” Hayes told the Miami Herald. “Something was very wrong. I just had a very bad feeling. My wife and I were in shock. I told her ‘Do not look at him.’ He was walking like he was walking down the street. It was really creepy, but his face ... it was pretty scary to be honest with you.”

Hayes said he then saw a policeman walk by with his gun drawn. A few minutes later, traffic cleared and Hayes drove away. He said he heard later that officers had been shot.

“My wife and I said a big, long prayer for them,” Hayes said. “We heard later that they were going to be all right. What a blessing.”

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Marlins’ Brett Hayes comes face-to-face with gunman in Miami