Centerville police working to reassure residents after first deadly shooting in 24 years

CENTERVILLE — Centerville police are working to reassure the community one day after the city’s first deadly shooting in 24 years.

Thursday, police went to a home on Sheehan Road and discovered a man shot to death.

Police emphasized to the community Friday that just because they wrapped up their initial investigation at the shooting scene doesn’t mean they aren’t prioritizing the case.

A panicked 911 call brought police to Sheehan Road Thursday morning.

“We have someone trying to break into our house right now,” a 911 caller said.

That mother told dispatchers she was hiding in a bedroom with her two children and the situation quickly escaped from dangerous to deadly.

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Centerville officers found the family unharmed at the suspected intruder laying inside the home dead.

Police also spotted an incoherent woman in the front yard.

She was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Officers towed a vehicle that was parked in front of the home.

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A neighbor told News Center 7 that the vehicle sat out front for at least an hour in the early morning darkness.

“Why would someone park out front, with lights on, then break into a house, right in front of them, that doesn’t make any sense,” the neighbor said.

Centerville police told News Center 7 Friday “Our investigators have been able to determine that the male and female were together and arrived at the scene in the same vehicle.”

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office identified the man shot as 36-year-old Joseph Gibson.

His address is listed a few miles away from the shooting scene.

Police said they are working to answer the questions the incident is raising in the community.

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