A Camas man accused of shooting his brother in the leg and beating his former girlfriend with a baseball bat, for fear they were trying to conspire against and poison him, made a first appearance Monday in Clark County Superior Court.
Justin Matthew Gibson, 36, appeared on suspicion of two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree domestic violence assault, one involving strangulation. Both victims are expected to survive their injuries.
Judge Gregory Gonzales ordered Gibson be held at the Clark County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. He will be arraigned Friday.
Camas police were dispatched to a reported assault at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday at 1732 N.W. Sixth Court in Camas. A 40-year-old Portland woman said her ex-boyfriend, Gibson, choked her and struck her in the head with a baseball bat. She fled to a neighbor’s home for help before losing consciousness. She was transported by ambulance to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
She later told police that she had stopped by Gibson’s home to drop off dog treats, and he said she shouldn’t have come because “today’s the day you are going to die,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court.
The woman said Gibson also grabbed her by the throat, threw her to the ground and punched her in the face. She ran from the home after being struck with the bat, when Gibson turned his back. He chased her, she said, but stopped at the property line, court records said.
Investigators discovered evidence of a separate assault at the same home and learned that Gibson beat up and shot his younger brother, Joseph Levi Gibson, on Friday, the affidavit states.
Justin Gibson told police he beat his brother with his fists, feet, a golf club, a stick, a metal bat and a police-issued billy club. He also put out a cigar on his arm and a cigarette on his leg, in addition to shooting him in the leg with a .22-caliber rifle, according to court documents.
Justin Gibson then drove his brother to the hospital, he said, and told hospital staff that his brother fell out of a tree. Joseph Gibson had multiple broken bones, including a broken femur; significant bruising; internal injuries; burns; and the gunshot wound to the leg, police said.
Justin Gibson told police he believes his ex-girlfriend, brother and another roommate were conspiring to have him charged with fraud and were trying to poison him for a life insurance policy, according to court documents. He said his brother admitted to putting laundry detergent with bleach in his eggs, court records said.
Prior to Saturday, police sought the brothers in connection with another man’s alleged scheme to fake his own kidnapping, according to the Camas Police Department.
Oregon police said the Gibson brothers were in a car July 24 with the man, 57-year-old John McPhail. McPhail had a bag over his head and his hands tied behind his back when he fell out of the moving vehicle on Interstate 205 in Clackamas County, according to police. The brothers left the scene in the car.
The incident was believed to be a botched attempt by McPhail to fake his own kidnapping and extort money from his mother, according to police.
