Skip in Skip x Embed x Share According to police, former NFL football player Joe McKnight was shot and killed following an auto incident on Thursday in Terrytown, Louisiana. USA TODAY 
 
 Joe McKnight during a 2008 game between USC and Notre Dame. (Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports) 
 
 Ronald Gasser, the alleged shooter in the killing of former USC and NFL running back Joe McKnight, was arrested and charged with simple battery in 2006 stemming from a road rage incident, police said. 
 
 The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office issued a release Friday night describing the incident that occurred on Feb. 20, 2006, between Gasser and a 51-year-old white male at the same intersection where McKnight was killed Thursday in Terrytown, La. 
 
 “During this incident, the victim/reporting person, identified only as a 51-year-old white male from Marrero, called 911 in Jefferson Parish to report that a male subject was driving a red pick-up truck unsafely on Holiday Drive,” according to the release. “The victim observed a phone number on the truck to call if the vehicle was being operated unsafely. When the victim called the phone number, an individual, later identified as Ronald Gasser, told the victim he was the one driving the red pick-up truck. 
 
 “A verbal altercation between the victim and Gasser began at that time. Once the victim reached the service station, he pulled in to begin refueling his vehicle. It was at that time Gasser, who had followed him into the station, confronted him and began to strike him with a closed fist several times.” 
 
 The misdemeanor charge of simple battery was ultimately dismissed. 
 
 Thursday’s incident between Gasser, 54, and McKnight, 28, has been described by police as “the culmination of a road rage incident." Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said Gasser fired three shots – all hitting McKnight – through an open window after McKnight exited his vehicle. 
 
 Gasser remained at the scene, where McKnight was pronounced dead, and was taken into custody. Gasser was released on Friday without charges and had yet to be formally charged as of 9:30 p.m. ET Friday night. 
 
 GALLERY: Joe McKnight through the years ||||| Former NFL player Joe McKnight was shot to death Thursday following an argument at an intersection with another motorist. 
 
 Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said the incident involving McKnight happened about 2:43 p.m. Thursday in Terrytown, a suburb of New Orleans. 
 
 The 28-year-old running back was standing outside his car when he was shot by Ronald Gasser, 54, Normand said during a news conference at the scene of the shooting. 
 
 "The only thing we know right now, everything else is conjecture, is that Mr. Gasser did in fact shoot Mr. McKnight," Normand said. 
 
 McKnight is the second former NFL player this year to die in the New Orleans area as a result of a possible road-rage incident. Former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith was killed in April in a shooting that was sparked over a traffic altercation. 
 
 Norman said investigators have Gasser in custody and he's being questioned, along with a number of witnesses. Col. John Fortunato, a sheriff's office spokesman, said they anticipate charging Gasser, but with what has not yet been determined. 
 
 "We will release additional details when we get through with the interviews," Normand said. 
 
 Normand said Gasser, whose hometown was not immediately released, stayed at the scene and relinquished his weapon to responding officers. 
 
 The sheriff said he did not know where the incident started, but noted that McKnight was standing outside his vehicle when he was shot. He did not release any details on the number of times McKnight was shot, saying the coroner's office would do so. 
 
 Normand said no gun was found outside either vehicle, but they had not searched the cars and won't do so until a search warrant has been obtained. 
 
 McKnight played three seasons for the New York Jets and one with the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent this season in the Canadian Football League, playing two games for the Edmonton Eskimos and three for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He ran for 150 yards against Toronto on Oct. 15 in his Saskatchewan debut. 
 
 "We send our deepest sympathies to Joe's family, friends, and all those impacted by this tragedy," Roughriders general manager and coach Chris Jones said in a statement. 
 
 McKnight was considered the No. 1 running back recruit in the country when he came out of John Curtis Christian School in Louisiana in 2006 and signed with the University of Southern California, where he played under Pete Carroll. With his running and catching skills, McKnight was often compared to do-it-all running back Reggie Bush, a USC star who was the No. 2 overall pick by New Orleans in the 2006 draft. 
 
 Bush took to Twitter to offer his condolences: "RIP my brother Joe McKnight," he posted, "this one hurts bad." 
 
 Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times Joe McKnight rushed for more than 2,200 yards in his USC career. Joe McKnight rushed for more than 2,200 yards in his USC career. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 
 
 "For a life to be lost so senselessly is just beyond description," said JT Curtis, McKnight's high school coach, who's been head coach there for nearly five decades. "Right now it's pretty devastating." 
 
 "He was just a good kid," the coach added. 
 
 After a sometimes-spectacular college career in which he ran for 2,213 yards and 13 touchdowns and caught 66 passes for 542 yards and two scores in three seasons, McKnight was drafted by the Jets in the fourth round in 2010. 
 
 His NFL career got off to a shaky start, marked by his first rookie camp practice in which he dropped a few passes, had both calves cramp up and later vomited on the side of the field because of nerves and lack of conditioning. McKnight saw limited action as a rookie, but started the regular-season finale and rushed for 158 yards on 32 carries. 
 
 McKnight assumed the role as the Jets' primary kick returner in 2011, and led the NFL with a 31.6 yard kickoff return average that season. That included a franchise-record 107-yarder in 2011 against Baltimore that also stands as the team's longest play. 
 
 He was released by the Jets as part of their final cuts after training camp in 2013 and spent that season out of football. McKnight signed with Kansas City in January 2014 and had two touchdown catches in a game for the Chiefs early that season before tearing his Achilles tendon during a practice and missing the rest of the year. 
 
 Several of McKnight's former teammates and friends took to social media to express shock and sadness at the news, and to offer condolences to his family. 
 
 The Jets posted a photo of McKnight with the words "Joe McKnight 1988-2016" on it on their official Twitter account. "Rest in peace, Joe McKnight," the team said. "Our thoughts and condolences are with his loved ones." 
 
 Former Jets teammate Antonio Cromartie wrote on Twitter: "Just got a message saying my former teammate Joe McKnight was killed today. This hurt to the heart. I can't stop crying." 
 
 Associated Press ||||| Getty Images 
 
 The man who shot and killed former NFL player Joe McKnight over an apparent traffic incident had previously been cited for battery over a confrontation at the very same intersection where he killed McKnight. 
 
 The New Orleans Advocate reports that Ronald Gasser, who admits he shot and killed McKnight on Thursday, was issued a misdemeanor summons for simple battery in 2006, after another motorist called 911 and reported that Gasser had followed him to a gas station and punched him over a traffic dispute. That dispute took place at Holmes Boulevard and Behrman Highway in the New Orleans suburb of Terrytown, the very same intersection where Gasser shot McKnight. 
 
 In the 2006 incident, police say the victim had first called a phone number on a pickup truck to report that the truck was being driven unsafely. It turned out that Gasser was the one driving the truck, and the phone number listed on the truck was Gasser’s cell phone. Gasser answered the call for unsafe driving, berated the caller, figured out which nearby car the call was coming from, and followed the man. 
 
 Gasser’s misdemeanor battery summons was later dismissed for reasons that the Sheriff’s Office now says are unclear. 
 
 After Gasser killed McKnight on Thursday, he stayed at the scene, acknowledged to police that he had committed the shooting, and gave officers the gun. Although Gasser was initially brought to a police station, he was released without charges. Gasser claims he shot McKnight in self defense, and Louisiana law allows people to shoot to kill if they believe they are being threatened. ||||| 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. Investigators are consulting with the district attorney's office on the decision whether to formally charge Gasser, Fortunato said. 
 
 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. 
 
 McKnight, 28, was shot about 3 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 1) at the intersection of Behrman Highway and Holmes Boulevard in Terrytown. A witness, who declined to give her name, said she saw a man at the intersection yelling at McKnight, who was trying to apologize. The man shot McKnight more than once, the witness said. She said he shot McKnight, stood over him and said, "I told you don't you f--- with me." Then the man fired again, she said. 
 
 UPDATE: Gasser was not standing over Joe McKnight when he shot him, authorities say 
 
 Authorities named the shooter as Ronald Gasser, 54, and said he stayed at the scene and turned his gun in to officers. Gasser was in custody and was being questioned, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said. The sheriff said McKnight did not have a gun, and deputies did not find a gun outside McKnight's vehicle.
– The 54-year-old man police say killed a former NFL player during a road rage incident Thursday in Louisiana had been arrested and charged for a road rage incident at the exact same intersection 10 years ago, USA Today reports. In 2006, a man saw a truck driving unsafely and called the number on the back of the truck to report it. Ronald Gasser, the driver, answered the phone, got into an argument with the man, and followed him to a gas station, where he allegedly attacked him. Assault charges against Gasser were dismissed, and according to NBC Sports, the sheriff's office isn't sure why. This time, Gasser may not even be charged. Police say Gasser shot 28-year-old Joe McKnight three times Thursday without ever getting out of his car. A witness tells the Times-Picayune that McKnight was trying to apologize when he was shot; she says the shooter shot McKnight again while he was on the ground. Gasser was taken into custody but released without charges. It's unclear if any are coming. Louisiana law makes it legal to kill if you feel threatened, and Gasser is claiming self defense. Police say McKnight was unarmed and had no weapon in his vehicle. “You tell [me] how can a man murder someone go get to sleep in his bed at night. But my brother can’t. What the hell am I to tell my nephew,” the New Yorker quotes McKnight's former teammate Antonio Cromartie.