7-year-old drive-by shooting victim dies days later
By WTVD News Staff
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FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (WTVD) — A 7-year-old boy shot in Fayetteville last week has died.
Fayetteville Police Department confirmed the boy, identified as Zion Gibbs, died at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill on June 10.
Gibbs was shot on June 7 shortly after midnight while inside his home on Danish Drive.
Gibb’s father remembered him as a boy who loved the song, “Lift Me Up” by Rihanna, the movie “Black Panther,” and wanted to be like his older brother in learning how to play the drums.
“He was silly and loved by many; (he was) brought on this earth to give love,” his father said.
Fon Dockery is friends with Gibbs’ father. Dockery actually lost his own daughter to gun violence not even a year ago on July 25. She was 8 years old.
“Confused, angry, want to know why,” Dockery said about what it’s like to lose a child to gun violence.
Dockery was in his living room where a memorial of his daughter Jenesis is displayed when he got the call that his friend’s son had met the same tragic end.
“To think that their child was in their home, not bothering anybody — doing what a child should be doing and now that life is gone. It is incredible, and it’s overwhelming, to be honest,” Dockery said.
Fayetteville Police Department has not released any information on who’s responsible for the drive-by shooting that happened Friday.
However, for Dockery, it’s becoming more urgent to get guns off the street after another young person is gone.
“We’re losing them at a rate that’s incredibly terrifying, and we can no longer only talk about it,” Dockery said. “We got to be active.”
Gibbs was a student at Benjamin Martin Elementary School. The school released the following statement about his death:
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Zion Gibbs, a beloved student at Benjamin Martin Elementary School. Our hearts go out to his family, friends, and everyone in our school community during this incredibly difficult time.”
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