KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Dozens of people hovered around the intersection of Burdick and Emerson Streets Thursday morning. It had been blocked off with yellow police tape as Kalamazoo Public Safety detectives walked in and out of house where they said a murder-suicide took place.
“This shouldn’t happen to nobody,” said Pebbles Cross. “When it comes to your family you don’t think things like this can happen and it has.”
Cross was with her family, hugging and consoling them she said when they found out what happened to her cousin Julina Gibson. Police said they’d received calls of shots fired at 6:40 a.m. from the 100 block of east Emerson. When they arrived on scene, they found two adults and one child suffering from gunshot wounds. All were transported to the hospital but the adults —Julina Gibson and her ex-boyfriend Nick Mitchell — were pronounced dead. Their 4-year-old son remained in the hospital.
“The child currently is, the information we’ve been given, is in critical condition,” said KDPS Asst. Chief Vernon Coakley during a press conference.
FOX 17 obtained court documents which revealed that the two had been in a custody battle over their son since 2015. They also showed Mitchell’s criminal history which included armed robbery and carjacking charges.
“She was trying to get away from the relationship,” said Pebbles. “She was out of the relationship and it was back-and-forth, back-and-forth.”
During the presser, police identified the suspect as Mitchell. However they did not state exactly how the shooting unfolded. They investigation, they said, is still on-going.
“We just pray that God just take it on and heal our hearts and heal the hurting hearts,” said Pebbles. “I know they devastated. I know that everybody is.”
To make a contribution to Gibson's family click here for their GoFundMe account.
