Former NFL running back Joe McKnight was fatally shot on Thursday afternoon in what appears to be a road rage incident in Louisiana, reports say.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand confirmed that a man was in custody after McKnight was shot in Terrytown, a suburb along the Mississippi River. The sheriff identified the assailant as Ronald Gasser, a white man, who he said stayed at the scene and turned his gun over to deputies, NBC News reports.
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A source at the scene told The Times-Picayune that she saw McKnight apologizing to the visibly agitated Gasser before he shot McKnight. He then proceeded to stand over him and yell “I told you don’t you f**k with me,” then shot him again.
“Mr. McKnight did not have a gun in his possession,” Normand said.
McKnight, who was just 28 years old, is from Louisiana. He went on to attend USC, where he was a football star.
“Deeply saddened by the loss of Joe McKnight,” Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, McKnight’s coach at USC, said on Twitter. “This is a terrible tragedy. Everyone loved Joe and we are going to really miss him.”
In 2010, he was drafted in the fourth round of the NFL draft and went on to play four seasons of professional football—three for the New York Jets and one for the Kansas City Chiefs. He last played in the league in 2014.
He didn't deserve to die that way! And then this man stands over him and shoots him again like some kind of wild animal! Sickening 😔
— Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush) December 2, 2016
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Statement from Rex Ryan on Joe McKnight. Ryan coached McKnight with the Jets from 2010-12. <a href=”https://t.co/MfRZMcJFG3″>pic.twitter.com/MfRZMcJFG3</a></p>— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) <a href=”https://twitter.com/jkatzenstein/status/804526743772135428″>December 2, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Just got a message saying my former teammate Joe McKnight was killed today. This hurt to the heart. I can't stop crying. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/RestInPeace?src=hash”>#RestInPeace</a></p>— ANTONIO CROMARTIE (@CRO31) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CRO31/status/804453520980279296″>December 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Condolences and remembrances are pouring in online from allover the NFL: