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The person who shot and killed former NFL running back Joe McKnight is a free man.

Police released 54-year-old Ronald Gasser Thursday night, just hours after he gunned down McKnight in an alleged road rage incident in Terrytown, Louisiana just outside of New Orleans.

Gasser’s release has sparked outrage throughout the New Orleans area and the nation.

According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Gasser and McKnight had a “heated” verbal exchange after one of the men cut the other off in traffic. Things came to a tragic head when Gasser drew his semi-automatic handgun, shooting McKnight multiple times.

Judge Morris Reed, President of the NAACP New Orleans Branch, spoke with Roland Martin on NewsOne Now via Skype about the shooting and Gasser’s release without charges.

While expressing his outrage, Judge Reed explained Gasser has a history of conducting road rage attacks.

“He attacked a White gentleman, 51-years-old in 2006 at the same intersection – this is crazy,” said Reed.

Alluding to a “relationship” between Gasser and local law enforcement, Reed said he “indicated at the scene of the shooting that he has connections with law enforcement because his occupation appears to be providing telephone service to penal institutions.

“He may have political connections that the ordinary citizen doesn’t,” Reed said.

NewsOne Now panelist A. Scott Bolden informed viewers that Louisiana has a stand-your-ground law in place and said: “The sheriff is struggling and what needs more investigation is whether stand-your-ground allows him to walk or allows him to even be charged because if he felt trapped, he had a gun – McKnight was out and he felt he had no other course but to shoot … that’s what the sheriff is struggling with.

“Stand-your-ground says I don’t have to retreat and I can use deadly force if I feel like I’m going to be bodily harmed or be killed,” said Bolden.

Watch Roland Martin, Judge Morris Reed, and A. Scott Bolden discuss the shooting death of former NFL player Joe McKnight in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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Was The Shooting Of Joe McKnight A Case Of Stand Your Ground?  was originally published on newsone.com