Ronald Gasser, the man who shot and killed ex-NFL player Joe McKnight, was arrested for manslaughter Monday, December 5, according to the website for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Glasser is being held without bond.
Gasser, 54, was initially taken into police custody after the December 1 shooting, which occurred after an apparent road rage incident in a New Orleans suburb, but was released from jail the next day without being charged pending further investigation.
The Associated Press reported that Gasser shot McKnight, 28, three times from inside his car as the athlete stood near his passenger window during a verbal fight at an intersection in Terrytown, Louisiana. When authorities arrived at the scene, Gasser handed them his gun and confessed to shooting McKnight, who was reportedly unarmed.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said that although McKnight was black and Gasser is white, race did not play a role in the case.
The AP reported that Gasser was previously involved in a road rage altercation at the same intersection in February 2006. He was issued a misdemeanor summons for simple battery, but the charge was later dismissed.
McKnight played three seasons with the New York Jets before being cut in training camp in 2013. The NFL team held a moment of silence in honor of the athlete, who also played one season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014, during a game against the Indianapolis Colts at East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium Monday, December 5.