A grand jury indicted a white father and son on multiple counts, including attempted murder, nearly 10 months after a black FedEx driver alleged he was followed and shot after dropping off a package in a Mississippi town.
Gregory Case and his son Brandon were indicted last week by a Lincoln County grand jury on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit the crime of murder, and shooting at a motor vehicle in connection with the alleged May 24 attack. January against D’Monterrio Gibson in Brookhaven, about 55 miles south of Jackson. Brookhaven’s population is approximately 59% black and 39% white, according to the most recent census data.
Gregory Case was originally arrested in February under investigation of conspiracy and Brandon Case on suspicion of aggravated assault. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department said bail was set at $500,000 for each man on the enhanced charges and both were released on bond Friday. They have not yet been arraigned before a circuit court judge, and a trial date has not yet been set. Brandon Case’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear if Gregory Case had retained an attorney.
Gibson previously told NBC News that he believes the men came after him because he is black and because they thought he didn’t belong in their neighborhood.
Gibson said he was wearing a FedEx uniform when he dropped off a package at a Brookhaven home on Jan. 24. He said that he was not in a FedEx truck but in a Hertz van that FedEx had rented, with the markings of the rental company on the sides. As he was leaving, he said, a man in a white van began to follow close behind him as he honked his horn. Gibson said he drove past a couple of houses and saw a man standing in the middle of the street with a gun pointed at him. The man was uttering the word «stop,» Gibson said.
Gibson said he swerved to avoid the man, who began firing toward the rear of the Hertz vehicle, damaging the truck and the packages inside. He said he called his manager, who told him to go back to the FedEx station and that the truck chased him onto an interstate near Brookhaven before ending the chase. Gibson was not injured.
He went to the Brookhaven Police Department the next day with one of his managers to file a police report, a copy of which he previously provided to NBC News. Gibson’s narrative was corroborated by the police report.
The encounter drew comparisons to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was jogging through a Georgia neighborhood in February 2020 when three white men chased him in a pair of pickup trucks for five minutes. Arbery eventually got stuck between the trucks and ended up confronting one of the men, who shot and killed him. The white men, including a father and son, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
His lawyers had argued that the men suspected Arbery of committing crimes in their neighborhood, but prosecutors said there was no evidence of that and the jury was not convinced. They were also found guilty of federal hate crime charges and the father and son received an additional sentence of life in prison, while the third man was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Gibson’s attorney, Carlos Moore, said his client is pleased the couple have been charged.
«However, he will not take a full victory lap until Cases are convicted of the crimes for which they have been charged and both are in prison for their wrongful actions with respect to him on January 24, 2022,» he said in a statement. release.