UPDATE: The “eyewitness” testimony reported to the media outlets in the article below are lies!

Former NFL running back Joe McKnight was shot multiple times and killed yesterday in what is being called a road rage incident in Terrytown (LA) yesterday afternoon. There was some sort of confrontation between McKnight and Ronald Gasser that saw both men exit their vehicles about 3:00 PM, and the account provided by a witness to NOLA.com makes it sounds like a cold-blooded execution.

A shooting in Terrytown Thursday afternoon (Dec. 1)  left a man dead after an argument at an intersection, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Family members at the scene identified the victim as Joe McKnight, a former NFL player and local high school football standout. McKnight, 28, who went to John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge, played college football for USC, and then went on to play for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. He also played in the Canadian Football League.

The shooting, reported about 3 p.m., occurred at the intersection of Behrman Highway and Holmes Boulevard.

A witness, who declined to give her name, said she was leaving a store in the area when she saw a man at the intersection yelling at another man, who was trying to apologize. The man who was yelling shot the other man more than once, she said.

She said the shooter shot the man, stood over him and said “I told you don’t you f— with me.” Then he fired again, she said.

If that’s the way things went down then it is truly horrific, but that’s just one witness’s testimony. Unfortunately for Ronald Gasser, the 54-year-old accused of shooting McKnight, the other known witness accounts seem to be even worse.

Multiple witnesses said a man in an Infiniti sedan pulled the victim from his Audi and shot him multiple times after a verbal altercation. Witnesses said the shooter then waited for police to show up.

Regardless of whatever traffic altercation that transpired prior to the vehicles coming to a halt, the actions described by witnesses sound like a first-degree murder, if they are accurate. Keep in mind that eyewitness statements are often somewhere on the spectrum of incredibly inaccurate to outright fabrications.

—HOWEVER—

If these accounts are reasonably accurate and not trying to push a narrative, this looks incredibly bad for Ronald Gasser.

If this incident went down as multiple witnesses are claiming—and apparently without any known conflicting accounts—then Gasser pulled a non-violent and apologizing McKnight out of his vehicle at gun point, shot him to the ground, then stood over him and delivered a coup de grâce. 

If that is reasonably accurate and supported by physical evidence, then we’re looking a case that would seem to qualify as a murder case, and one arguably worthy of the death penalty.

So if what we’re hearing with a great deal of consistency from the media is accurate, why on Earth was Gasser released by authorities without being charged, just hours after the shooting?

Ronald Gasser, the man authorities say shot and killed former NFL player Joe McKnight, was released from custody overnight without being charged, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office authorities said Friday morning (Dec. 2).

Gasser, 54, has not been formally charged, said JPSO spokesman Col. John Fortunato. As the investigation into McKnight’s death continues, Fortunato asked anyone with information about the shooting to contact department homicide detectives at 504-364-5393.

My gut feeling is that as horrible as these media accounts are, there is clearly something going on with this incident that no media outlet is reporting on that suggests Gasser has evidence or witness testimony on his behalf that offers up at least the thin veneer of a self-defense case.

What are we missing?