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| The vehicle a Black delivery driver operated has a gunshot in it. |
This could have been another Ahmaud Arbery situation. A Black delivery driver is demanding justice after a white man and his father fired upon him when he was driving for FedEx in Mississippi.
D'Monterrrio Gibson was delivering for FedEx in the town of Brookhaven, Mississippi when two white men attacked him.
The driver would say that would see a white pickup truck coming around him.
The truck started approaching Gibson and blowing the horn at him.
Gregory Case and his son Brandon been charged with conspiracy and aggravated assault, respectively.https://t.co/05cmGCHal2 pic.twitter.com/kQb3np1pAZ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 10, 2022
A white father and son in Mississippi attacked a Black FedEx delivery driver with a pickup truck and firearm.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 11, 2022
They shot at his delivery van repeatedly in what lawyers say was a "copycat" of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. pic.twitter.com/enNiImTISf
D'Monterrio Gibson is a FedEx worker who was trying to deliver a package when two white men chased his truck and one of them fired a gun at him.
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) February 11, 2022
"I feel it's my responsibility to speak up because Ahmaud Arbery didn't survive to speak up for himself," he says. pic.twitter.com/DuOUqRxyxK
The van Gibson was driving was a Hertz rental van that hat two large Hertz stickers on the back.
Gibson was wearing his full uniform but the vehicle did not have FedEx markings on it.
Attorneys for Gibson are calling for a federal hate crimes probe of the attempted shooting of the driver in Mississippi, saying it's another example of Black Americans facing danger simply for going about their daily activities.
Gibson, was not wounded in the Jan. 24 incident. One of his attorneys, Carlos Moore, said Thursday that he believes police are not taking the investigation seriously. Two White men are facing charges, but Moore said the state needs to upgrade those charges to attempted murder.
"He was simply Black while working," Moore said during a news conference.
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that the department received a request to look into the case and will review the request to determine any next steps.
Gibson said he was wearing a FedEx uniform and was driving an unmarked van that FedEx had rented when he dropped off a package at a house in south Mississippi. He said as he was leaving, he noticed a white pickup truck pulling away from another house on the same large lot.
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| D'Monterrrio Gibson demands justice. |
He said the pickup driver tried to cut him off as he left the driveway. Gibson swerved around him and then encountered a second man who had a gun pointed at the van and was motioning for him to stop. Gibson said the man fired as he drove away, damaging the van and packages inside. He said the white pickup chased him to the interstate highway near Brookhaven before ending the pursuit.
Two white men from Brookhaven, 58-year-old Gregory Charles Case and his son 35-year-old Brandon Case, were arrested and released on Feb. 1. Police told local news outlets that the elder Case was the suspected pickup driver, while Brandon Case was the man in the street. Gregory Charles Case is charged with conspiracy. Brandon Case is charged with aggravated assault.
The attorneys who represent the men - Terrell Stubbs for the father and Dan Kitchens for the son - did not immediately respond to two phone messages that the AP left for each of them Thursday. A person in Stubbs' office said he was in court, and a person in Kitchens' office said he was out of the office.
During a news conference on Thursday, Gibson said he was told by his superiors to run the same route the day after the chase, CBS affiliate WJTV reports.
"The following day, we had to go file a police report, and as soon as I was done filing a police report, they put me back on the same route. I did that for like a day or two until I started having real bad anxiety attacks, and I just couldn't do it anymore. I asked them for some time off, which I do have, but it's unpaid," said Gibson.
In a statement, FedEx said: "FedEx takes situations of this nature very seriously, and we are shocked by this criminal act against our team member. ... The safety of our team members is our top priority, and we remain focused on his wellbeing. We will continue to support Mr. Gibson as we cooperate with investigating authorities."
Nobody was injured but the chase and gunfire have sparked social media complaints of racism in Brookhaven, about 55 miles south of the state capital, Jackson. The local NAACP chairman has called on city's Black police chief to resign, but the chief says he has no intention to do so.
"I'm not going anywhere until God makes that decision," Kenneth Collins told the Daily Leader. "That's between me and God. Until God calls me I'm not worried about what anybody says."
Moore compares the incident to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was running empty-handed through a Georgia subdivision in 2020 when three white strangers chased him down and blasted him with a shotgun. The white men, including a father and son, were convicted of murder and sentenced to life. Defense lawyers said they suspected Arbery had committed crimes in their neighborhood, but prosecutors said there was no evidence of that. The three still face a federal hate crime trial.
About 68% of Brookhaven's 12,000 residents are Black. The city is in Lincoln County, where District Attorney Dee Bates said information will be presented to a grand jury for a decision on charges once police complete their investigation of the Gibson incident. Witnesses, including Gibson, will be able to testify.
James A. Bryant II of Los Angeles, another of the attorneys representing Gibson, said Thursday that Gibson experiences pain knowing that people tried to harm him because he is Black.
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| The suspects were released with a low criminal charge. |
"That has to be the most frightening experience one could face as a young Black man," Bryant said. "And then not only that - they continued to chase him until they got to the freeway. So what would have happened if they were able to cut him off?"
The suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Every community in the United States will eventually have a legacy. A legacy of tragedy. Gun violence and COVID-19 will affect your town, your family and your life. So I don't want to hear that bullshit about how gun reform is taking away your rights to own firearms.
I don't want to hear that protesting against police killing people of color is hate on cops in general. I don't want to hear talk about the coronavirus being a myth. When you hear folks say "gun rights," what they really mean is that its white privilege.
I don't want to hear folks say masks and vaccine mandates impede their freedoms. It prevents a deadly outbreak from spreading. If you want to die from the coronavirus, that's on you.
I don't want to hear the shit about guns saving lives. Cause a bullet does not have eyes and it's always likely gonna hit a target. These folks seem to not get it. These incidents are a tragic part of American history.
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential. Contact social media outlets directly if you are concerned about a friend’s social media updates or dial 911 in an emergency. Learn more on the Lifeline’s website or the Crisis Text Line’s website.
GUN VIOLENCE IS THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES!
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