A man followed his estranged wife to a North Georgia fire station Monday before shooting and killing her in front of their children, authorities said.
The suspect, identified by Channel 2 Action News as 44-year-old Jeremy Wade Gibson, immediately surrendered to firefighters and was taken into custody by arriving sheriff’s deputies.
The children, ages 5 and 8, were not injured, Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson told the news station. They are in the custody of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The ordeal started with a frantic 911 call about 7:30 p.m., according to the sheriff. A short time later, the woman, identified by Channel 2 as Amy Gibson, pulled into the parking lot of fire station 7 on Dawson Forest Road with her husband following behind in his vehicle.
She stayed in her vehicle as her husband approached and fired several shots, Johnson told Channel 2. The woman was dead in the driver’s seat when deputies arrived minutes later.
“The fire station should be a safe haven, and obviously that’s what we believe that this lady was looking for,” Johnson said from the scene Monday night.
Several people at the fire station, including a Dawson County firefighter, his wife and their children, may have witnessed the deadly shooting, fire Chief Danny Thompson told the news station. They were visiting the fire station when the gunfire erupted.
Another firefighter was inside the station at the time, but there was nothing that person could do to help the woman, Thompson said, as “the incident evolved so quickly and rapidly.”
Channel 2 reported that the couple were separated and had domestic issues in the past, but Gibson had never been arrested.
“We do have a history (with the couple) ... won’t go into details what that was, but do have a limited history with them both,” the sheriff said.
A crisis team was called in to support the witnesses and other first responders, he said. The GBI was also called to the scene to process evidence.
“Our thoughts and prayers to the victims’ family and all those affected by this crime,” Johnson said.
Gibson is jailed in Dawson County without bond on two counts of murder as well as charges of aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
