Jet's killer charged
New details of duo’s fatal road encounter
The Louisiana man who gunned down former Jet Joe McKnight near New Orleans was charged Tuesday with manslaughter — as the local sheriff ranted about the racially charged atmosphere surrounding the case and the criticism of his original decision to release the killer.
“Bad driving behavior and bad spoken words” by shooter Ronald Gasser and McKnight led to last Thursday’s slaying, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said. He then he grew angry. “Let us not try to make this out to be something that it is not,” Normand said, shifting his attention to a black parish council member who was the target of Internet trolls.
“It’s not fair for him to be called ‘You punk ass, Uncle Tom c--n, we saw you sell out to him, you rat-ass, f-ggot punk.’ ” Normand continued. “That’s the tone of what we’re calling our elected leaders.”
Normand denied that race played a role in the encounter between Gasser, who is white, and McKnight, who was black.
“What we had were two adult males engaged in unacceptable behavior,” he said.
The altercation — which started when both men were driving erratically and shouting at each other on a bridge — came to a head at a traffic light when McKnight got out of his car and approached Gasser, who remained in his vehicle, Normand said.
Gasser pulled a gun and fired three rounds at McKnight, killing him, Normand said. When deputies arrived, Gasser surrendered the gun and admitted he had shot McKnight, 28, a running back for the Jets from 2010 to 2012.
Normand said McKnight had a gun in his vehicle. It was his stepfather’s weapon, and his stepfather’s vehicle.
Gasser, 54, was questioned and released after the killing — a decision that sparked demonstrations and outrage on social media.
An incensed Normand, slamming his hand on the podium, blasted the demands for an immediate arrest.
He said Gasser was sprung for “strategic” investigative reasons and because authorities needed to talk to witnesses.
“Gasser gave a statement, but we had no corroborating statements and no contradictory statements from any witnesses we gathered that evening,” the sheriff insisted.
Gasser claimed that he was frightened by McKnight’s threatening comments and that he acted in self-defense, Normand said.
Police discredited a witness’ account of Gasser standing over McKnight’s body, yelling, “I told you I was going to f--k you up,” before pumping a final shot into the victim.