Joe McKnight, a former NFL running back who also starred at the University of Southern California, was shot and killed in a road rage incident in New Orleans on Thursday.
He was 28 years old.
The fatal incident took place at 2:43 p.m., with many witnesses actually on the scene.
One of them told TMZ that McKnight tried to apologize to the other man involved in some kind of altercation, only for the man to pull out a gun and shoot him.
“I told you not to f-ck with men,” the shooter allegedly said to McKnight while standing over his body, prior to firing another shot into the ex-New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs player.
Police say they have apprehended a 54-year old suspect named Ronald Gasser.
He surrounded to authorities at the scene.
Cops also say McKnight was NOT armed at the time he was killed.
“At approximately 2:43 p.m. today we received a call of a shooting that occurred here at Holmes [Boulevard] and Behrman Highway (in Terrytown),” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said via statement.
“Our officers arrived on the scene and immediately began giving CPR to an individual who was shot and lying on the ground, with EMS and others assisting at this location.
“The individual who was shot and ultimately expired has been identified as Joseph ‘Joe’ McKnight.”
Added Normand:
Mr. Gasser did, in fact, shoot Mr. McKnight. We will be releasing additional details as we get through these interviews with these witnesses. Mr. McKnight did not have a gun in his possession.
The tragic news has spread quickly around the sports world.
Those who played with McKnight or knew of him from Louisiana mourned the loss on social media:
McKnight was born in River Ridge, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, and starred at John Curtis Christian High School.
He was selected by New York in the fourth round of the 2010 draft.
“Joe McKnight was a loving father and a genuine, kind-hearted person,” the Jets said in a statement, adding:
“It is sad when life is taken in what appears to be such a senseless act of violence. Joe, you will be missed.”
McKnight – the second former NFL player to be killed in a road rage incident in 2016, following the shooting of Will Smith. played in the CFL this season, with the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He was still listed on their active roster at the time of his murder.
May Joe McKnight rest in peace.