Joe McKnight, Former Jets RB and USC Legend, Shot Dead, Shooter Walks Without Charges
Joe McKnight, former Jets running back and USC star, was shot dead yesterday in Terrytown, LA, roughly 20 miles outside of his hometown of Kenner. According to reports, McKnight was shot three times by 54 year-old local, Ronald Gasser, after the two allegedly had something of a road rage incident on Thursday afternoon. According to The New York Times, Gasser, who admitted to pulling the trigger, was released from custody without being charged.
Jefferson Parish, Newell Normand, addressed Gasser's release in a press conference this morning, stating that there were "relative statutes that provide defenses to certain crimes.” He also warned against demonstration, as social media users expressed outrage over another white man (Gasser) reducing another black man (McKnight) to a hashtag, as we've continually seen throughout the years. Normand insisted “Everybody wants to make this about race. This isn’t about race.”
Elmo Lee, McKnight's stepfather, told Fox8Live:
"I just want people to know that this was not a troubled kid. The boy was just trying to make it back in the NFL, that’s all he wanted to do. That was his whole dream since six years old. I’ve been knowing him from six, and this is just senseless, and it has to stop. Somewhere it has to stop."
McKnight was drafted in the fourth round by the Jets in 2010, spending two years with the team before being cut. He'd finish his NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014 after a year-long hiatus from the league.
