The man who shot and killed Joe McKnight did not stand over the former NFL running back and threaten him before firing a final shot, according to the sheriff in charge of the case.
In a press conference on Friday, Newell Normand of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office defended the decision to release 54-year-old Ronald Gasser without filing charges. He also refuted a previous report in which a witness claimed to have watched Gasser shoot McKnight after standing over him and yelling, “I told you don’t you (expletive) with me.”
Sheriff: Gasser fired three rounds from driver's seat of his car, through open passenger window at McKnight, standing at window
— Jonathan Bullington (@jrbullington) December 2, 2016
Sheriff: Gasser didn't stand over McKnight and fire. 3 casings in car.
— Jonathan Bullington (@jrbullington) December 2, 2016
Sheriff: Feelings don't matter. Only evidence. "Stop believing what you're reading."
— Jonathan Bullington (@jrbullington) December 2, 2016
The female witness previously told The Times-Picayune that McKnight tried to apologize and diffuse the situation after a road rage incident. Normand said investigators have not been told anything of the sort.
Sheriff: no video we've recovered. No witness account of apology being made by McKnight to Gasser
— Jonathan Bullington (@jrbullington) December 2, 2016
While he made it clear that the investigation is still in its early stages, Normand is somehow confident the shooting was not racially-motivated. He also revealed that there could be a potential conflict of interest with the case.
“Of course, where that leads us at this point in time is that everybody wants to make this about race,” Normand said, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “This isn’t about race. And I’ll just throw this out folks so that everybody knows and there’s no hiding the ball. The gentleman that raised Joe McKnight used to work for this office.”
Regardless of Gasser’s motivation, it is difficult to understand why a person who shot and killed another person in an alleged road rage incident has been released from custody. Antonio Cromartie, one of McKnight’s former teammates with the New York Jets, summed up what many of us are thinking in this series of tweets.
Lousiana has a “stand your ground” law that justifies homicide if an individual feels threatened, and that is likely going to come into play in this case.
