D’Monterrio Gibson waits for justice two years after white men reportedly shot at truck he was driving
Gibson's attorney has likened the alleged incident of drawn guns and pursuit in Brookhaven, Mississippi, to the encounter Ahmaud Arbery experienced in coastal Georgia.
The Black former FedEx driver who escaped the gunfire of two white men while making deliveries, sought mental health support, and endured a trial, lives without closure two years after the reported attack.
D’Monterrio Gibson was delivering packages in Brookhaven, Mississippi, a city about 55 miles south of Jackson, Mississippi, on Jan. 24, 2022, when two men, Gregory Case and his son Brandon Case, allegedly opened fire on the truck he was driving. They faced attempted first-degree murder charges.
On the day of the shooting, Gibson drove a van with the Hertz logo on it. After dropping off a package in front of a home on a dead-end street, Gregory Case blocked him with a pickup truck and Brandon Case approached Gibson with a gun, according to prosecutors.
Gibson said that one of the men pointed a gun at him and indicated that Gibson should stop the truck. As Gibson tried to drive around the pickup truck, gunshots hit the van. Terrell Stubbs, an attorney for Gregory Case, said, “It was completely dark, completely dark, and somebody was in the wrong place,” Stubbs said. “It wasn’t my client,” the Associated Press reported.
Stubb’s comments and the Cases’ attempts to stop a Black man on the road led Gibson’s attorney, Carlos Moore, to make comparisons to the pursuit of Ahmaud Arbery.
According to defense lawyer Stubbs, Gregory Case saw the van outside his mother-in-law’s house and was unsure of why it was there. When he approached Gibson and he drove away, that’s when they shot at him, prosecutors said. None of the shots hit Gibson.
While the shooting took place in January 2022, the two men were not indicted until November of that year. Their trial didn’t begin until August 2023.
However, because detectives in the Brookhaven Police Department did not give the prosecutors or defense attorneys taped statements of Gibson and issues with improper testimony about weapons in the home of the defendants, the case ended in a mistrial.
Carlos Moore did not respond to multiple requests for comment from theGrio. In a statement sent to the “Mississippi Free Press” last November, Moore said they were disappointed and frustrated by the circumstances.
“A mistrial represents not just an administrative setback but also a delay in justice for Mr. Gibson and his family. It is concerning that BPD withheld a potentially crucial piece of evidence,” Moore said in the statement. “We believe that this is not an isolated incident but a part of a larger pattern of obstruction by the BPD.”
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Gibson also did not respond to theGrio’s multiple requests for comment. FedEx terminated his employment after the mistrial. He’d been in therapy and on worker’s compensation since the shooting, but when he tried to return to FedEx, they wanted him to work part-time and he refused.
Gibson subsequently filed civil lawsuits against FedEx and the shooters. Last August, a federal judge dismissed a $5 million suit Gibson filed against FedEx and stated that the lawsuit did not prove that the company discriminated against him because of his race. He filed a second one last November.
“Our top priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees,” a FedEx spokesperson told The Associated Press in a previous statement. “FedEx denies the allegations and will vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
It’s unclear if prosecutors in Brookhaven will refile the case. The Lincoln County District Attorney’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Moore told the “Mississippi Free Press” that he’s been in touch with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and that it is monitoring the situation.
“I have also requested the DOJ to investigate the Brookhaven Police Department’s conduct in this matter for potential obstruction of justice,” Moore previously said. “It is paramount that every law enforcement agency upholds the highest standards of integrity and transparency, especially when the pursuit of justice for a victim is at stake.”
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