« There was a small retaliation against his side, » a police spokesman said, regarding a man believed to have killed his ex-girlfriend before shooting their child and himself.
KALAMAZOO, MI – Police arrested a family member of the Kalamazoo woman who was a victim of an apparent homicide-suicide shooting Thursday morning.
A relative of Julina Gale Gibson, 30, of Kalamazoo, was arrested late Thursday morning after he allegedly attacked a family member of Gibson’s ex-boyfriend.
A member of Gibson’s family has alleged that ex-boyfriend, Nick Allen Mitchell Jr., age 40,shot and killed Gibson during a 6:40 a.m. incident that happened just outside Gibson’s residence in the 100 block of East Emerson St.
He then is believed to have turned the gun on their child and killed himself.
Mitchell and Gibson were pronounced dead just after the shooting. Their child, a 4-year-old boy named Nicholas, was shot during the incident and was reported to be in critical condition late Thursday afternoon at Bronson Methodist Hospital.
KDPS Assistant Chief Vernon Coakley said Gibson and Mitchell had been in a custody dispute over the boy.
The name and age of the man arrested for assault were not released by Kalamazoo Public Safety late Thursday, Nov. 9.
Regarding the assault and Mitchell, Coakley said, « There was a small retaliation against his side. »
Coakley said a man who is apparently related to Gibson was arrested late Thursday morning for allegedly assaulting a family member of Mitchell. The assistant chief would not say if the victim was male or female. But one source indicated that the assault victim was a woman.
There was no word on how badly the assault victim was injured. She apparently did not require hospital treatment. Coakley did not say how the assault occurred or how it ended.
He refuted a rumor that the incident occurred as loved ones of Gibson and her young son gathered at the hospital following the shootings. He said, « Emotions were high » and members of the victims’ family wanted answers. But their emotions dissipated after a short discussion, he said, and no members of Mitchell’s family were present at the hospital.
He offered few specifics, but said the arrest was made at a residence in the Edison Neighborhood. He said officers will continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the shootings
