Bealeton man found dead in Winchester jail cell

By Karen Chaffraix, Times Staff Writer

A Bealeton man who was sentenced to eight years in prison last month in connection with a March standoff with Fauquier County Sheriff’s deputies was found dead Friday in his cell at the Northwestern Regional Jail in Winchester.

Jeremiah Gibson’s death is being investigated as a suicide, Northwest Regional Jail Superintendent James F. Whitley said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Fauquier County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey W. Parker found Gibson, 42, guilty Nov. 13 of five counts of malicious shooting toward emergency vehicles and other charges. Parker sentenced him to 25 years in jail but suspended all but eight of them, according to court records.

Parker also ordered Gibson to remain on probation for 10 years after his release and to receive mental-health treatment.

Jeremiah Gibson

Gibson was taken into custody by the Fauquier Sheriff’s Department March 2 and charged with five counts of attempted capital murder, one count of discharging a firearm within an occupied dwelling and one count of destruction of property – charges that were later reduced.

Deputies had been called to Bearbug Lane off Elk Run Road in Bealeton that March day and encountered an “armed individual on the property,” Sgt. James Hartman said at the time.

Gibson had barricaded himself in his home after confronting law-enforcement officers and later fired shots toward a sheriff’s vehicle with occupied by five deputies. The original police call was for a trespassing complaint between neighbors.

When first booked into the Northwest Regional Jail in March, Gibson made statements about harming himself. He was put on suicide watch but later cleared by the jail’s mental health staff, Whitley said.

Gibson’s body was found hanging from a bed sheet attached to the top bunk after 1 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 30. CPR was administered and rescue was called. Gibson was pronounced dead at the Winchester Medical Center. There will be an autopsy, Whitley said.

Whitley confirmed that there have been four successful suicides in the Northwest Regional Jail in the last six years.

Reach Karen Chaffraix at kchaffraix@fauquier.com