JUSTICE DELAYED: White father and son reach the find out phase of attempted lynching of Black delivery driver
The White father and son who reportedly chased and shot at a Black FedEx delivery driver have been indicted. A Mississippi grand jury indicted the racist pair on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and shooting into a motor vehicle.
On January 24th, Gregory Chase and his son Brandon allegedly pursued FedEx delivery driver D’Monterrio Gibson after he dropped off a package in Brookhaven, Mississippi – located about an hour outside of the state’s capital city.
According to Gibson, he believes he was targeted for being Black by people who thought that he “didn’t belong” in the neighborhood.
Mind you, Brookhaven is a pretty diverse city, with approximately 59% of its residents being Black.
Wearing a FedEx uniform, Gibson said he was working from a Hertz rental van that the package delivery giant rented – not an unusual circumstance.
NBC News reported:
“As he was leaving, he said, a man in a white pickup truck began following him closely while honking his horn. Gibson said he drove past a couple of houses and encountered a man standing in the middle of the road with a gun pointed at him. The man was mouthing the word ‘stop,’ Gibson said.”
Gregory Case and his son Brandon chased and SHOT at FedEx driver D'Monterrio Gibson while making deliveries. This is eerily similar to Ahmad Arbery's killing! They need to be charged w/ hate crimes & we need an investigation into their disturbing actions! https://t.co/BfWhlAZZ89
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) February 7, 2022
The incident has been compared to the hunting down and killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020.
Arbery was out jogging in a Georgia neighborhood when he was chased and fatally shot by father and son, Travis and Greg McMichael. The pair were convicted on federal hate crime charges in August of this year – along with their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, who filmed the heinous murder.
The McMichaels both received life sentences, while Bryan was sentenced to 35 years.
Released after posting $500,000 bonds each earlier this year, both Greg Case and his son were arrested by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department – the father for conspiracy, and his son Brandon for “suspicion of aggravated assault.”
Those charges have since been elevated to include the attempt on Mr. Gibson’s life.
In a police report filed the day after the incident, Gibson said he swerved to avoid the men as multiple shots were fired into the van. Damaging the vehicle and the packages inside, even as Gibron drove onto the grass to avoid hitting the son.
He immediately told his manager, who urged the driver to return to the station.
Greg and Brandon continued to pursue the deliveryman as he fled the Brookhaven neighborhood, only abandoning the attempted lynching once reaching nearby Highway I-55.
Carlos Moore, Gibson’s attorney, shared his client’s happiness with the indictment, adding:
“However he will not take a full victory lap until the Cases are convicted of the crimes for which they have been indicted, and both are in prison for their unlawful actions in regards to him on January 24, 2022.”
It’s been 10 months since the incident.
“It was an extremely long process to get this far into the case,” Gibson said. “I feel like most of the time, I was treated like a suspect rather than a victim.”
“I know that Dr. King said, ‘justice delayed isn’t justice denied,’ but nearly 10 months from the date he was accosted, assaulted, almost killed, we finally have indictments,” his attorney, Carlos Moore said.
After nearly a year of delays, the case will most likely be delayed until late Spring of next year, according to the plaintiff’s attorney, since a court date for the Cases has not been set.
Original reporting by Janelle Griffith at NBC News.
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