KY: Break-in attempt leaves 1 man dead [shot]

http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/04/28/loc_break-in_attempt.html

Break-in attempt leaves 1 man dead

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Another critical after trailer occupant fires

By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GREENWOOD – One man is dead and another was in critical
condition
with two gunshot wounds to the head after an apparent home invasion
early
Friday in rural Pendleton County.

Justin Davis, 24, called 911 at 5:40 a.m. and said he shot at
four
men attempting to break into his trailer, according to Kentucky State
Police. When Pendleton County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found
one man
dead.

Kentucky State Police and Pendleton County authorities investigate
the
scene Friday where Justin Davis, 24, told officers he shot two of
four men
who tried to break into his rented trailer.

The dead man was identified late Friday by Kentucky State
Police as
Robert E. Gibson Jr., 23, of Cincinnati. Police had no address for Mr.
Gibson.

A second man showed up at the Falmouth police station, shot
twice in
the head. He was driven there by a third man who allegedly was trying
to
break into the trailer.

The fourth man, at the trailer three-quarters of a mile from
the
main road, was left with no vehicle and Mr. Davis firing at him,
police
said. That man was seen banging on doors and windows of homes up and
down
Portland-Greenwood Road, asking for a ride.

The man, wearing a T-shirt, khaki pants and green socks,
offered
17-year-old James Peters $200-$300 for a ride to neighboring Bracken
County.

“His pants were ripped and it looked like he had ran through
mud,”
the Pendleton County High School sophomore said. “He didn’t show me
any
cash. I was getting suspicious.”

James said his mother called police from the house and the
mysterious man wanting a ride was picked up by a sheriff’s cruiser.

The man shot twice in the head is Pat O’Brien, 47, of
Newport. He
was in critical but stable condition at University Hospital, a nursing
supervisor said.

The two other men who were allegedly breaking into the
trailer were
being questioned at the Pendleton County Sheriff’s Office on Friday
evening.
State police wouldn’t identify them, but James Peters described the
man
wanting a ride as being in his early 20s with a bald head.

No one had been charged with any crimes as of Friday night.

Mr. Davis rented the trailer about two months ago, said Landon
Caldwell, the son of the couple who own the trailer.

Mr. Caldwell’s parents own more than 400 acres in Pendleton
County.
The farm has been in the Caldwell family for at least three
generations.

The trailer sits away from Portland-Greenwood Road. The
narrow and
curvy road is about 6 miles from Butler.

Mr. Caldwell said his family didn’t know Mr. Davis before they
rented him the trailer. They didn’t know whether others lived at the
trailer
with Mr. Davis, but they did confirm he owned several dogs, believed
to be
pit bulls.

“We pretty much stay out of his business,” said Mr. Caldwell,
who
was staying at his parents’ home, 1 1/4 miles away on the same farm.

“Kind of makes you wonder about the safety of our home,” James
Peters said. “If they were trying to break in and rob him, who might
be
next?”