The tragic tale of Joe McKnight losing his life on Thursday took a twist when the man who shot him, Ronald Gasser, was released from jail Friday. This was met with jaws agape as many struggle to understand how Gasser could possibly be released or fail to be charged with a crime.
Jefferson Parish sheriff Newell Normand spoke with reporters a bit later in the day, revealing the reason.
According to Normand, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Gasser did not fire his gun while standing over McKnight. Rather, the evidence shows he was still in his vehicle when the shooting occurred, with the shells being found inside the vehicle.
He said the investigation would be “deliberate” and would proceed in a “credible” way.
“If you do not dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ and there are deficiencies in what you do from an investigatory standpoint, it has dire consequences,” Sheriff Normand said.
He also urged people protesting to use caution on social media.
“I would ask the community to pause and reflect that if you start with ‘I feel,’ that is a slippery slope,” Sheriff Normand said. “It’s what the evidence suggests, what the evidence reveals, and what the evidence is.”
As Florio pointed out in his report, the evidence that is being presented could very well clear Gasser of any wrongdoing under “Louisiana’s ‘Kill the Carjacker‘ law, an extension of the ‘stand your ground‘ law that allows for a person to use deadly force to defend himself while in a vehicle.”
McKnight was a star running back at USC and took his game to the pro level, where he played with the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs before going to the CFL this year.
We’ll continue to mourn the passing of McKnight while waiting to see what the rest of the investigation reveals.