LCPD: El Paso home invasion suspect also suspected in Las Cruces kidnapping
Police say the man accused of shooting three people in a deadly El Paso home invasion faces charges for kidnapping three people in Las Cruces hours before the killing in El Paso, according to reports obtained by ABC-7.
Jason Gibson, 38, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday afternoon after a “brief chase” with law enforcement where police say he wrecked the car of the El Paso man he is accused of killing on Thanksgiving.
After 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving, police say they responded to a kidnapping call in a residential neighborhood south of Spruce Avenue and east of Solano Drive.
Upon entering, they found “large amounts of blood in the living room,” “blood smears on the kitchen sink,” and clothes soaked in blood, according to the report.
Officers then located an 86-year-old man lying in a bathroom “under a pool of blood” with lacerations on his face and head, according to the department. That man was transported to the hospital for further care.
Police say they learned the elderly man lived on his own, but his children and family members regularly visit to give him meals. On Wednesday night, his 64-year-old daughter and her 64-year-old friend visited him to provide him dinner and left.
Upon returning to pick the man up for Thanksgiving on Thursday morning, the two women were “immediately confronted by an unknown man” with numerous tattoos in his mid-to-late thirties with short black hair, according to the department.
Police say that man was later identified as Gibson.
The women told police Gibson was holding a taser and a handgun, according to the department. After that, police say the suspect ordered the elderly man’s daughter to tie up her friend with duct tape and ordered the woman’s friend to wait in the bathroom with him.
According to the department, Gibson ordered the daughter to drive him to El Paso, making her exit numerous times and making turns to “determine if anybody was following them.”
The daughter told police that Gibson ordered her to drop him off at Hercules Avenue in El Paso.
At the Las Cruces Police Department that afternoon, the elderly man’s daughter saw a news story on television detailing the triple shooting on Signal Peak place in El Paso, which was near where he said she last saw Gibson, police said.
According to the police department, the elderly man’s injuries are serious, but not life-threatening. His daughter and her friend’s injuries were not serious.
“The randomness of these crimes is really hard to fathom, especially for the victims,” said Las Cruces Police Spokesman Dan Trujillo. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims in both these cases.”
Las Cruces police, El Paso police and the U.S. Marshals Service worked in collaboration with the investigation.
