Slain CSX conductor was saving money for formal wedding
(The following story by Robin Fitzgerald appeared on the Sun Herald website on June 22, 2010.)
BILOXI, Miss. Relatives of a train conductor fatally shot in an attempted robbery said he lived in Biloxi and was saving money for a formal wedding.
CSX Railroad employee Fred Gibbs was on duty early Sunday when the westbound train he was operating stopped for traffic delays on a railroad near New Orleans Lakeview neighborhood. New Orleans police said a man jumped on the train, shot Gibbs and ran off.
Police responded to a report of shots fired with multiple injuries around 12:30 a.m. They said Gibbs was dead when they arrived.
Gibbs was 52.
He was an only child and had two sons and four grandchildren.
My only son, oh Lord, I can hardly think, said his mother, Alneda Gibbs of Biloxi, said Monday.
Fred Gibbs had lived in Biloxi since he was a year old and had returned home after military service.
Its hard to wrap our brains around, said Kendrick Gibbs, the eldest of Fred Gibbs sons.
Kendrick Gibbs, of Biloxi, said he and his sibling, Cedric Gibbs of DIberville, have had difficulty explaining it to the oldest of their children, whose ages range from 3 months old to 10 years.
I tried to explain it to my daughter, Kendrick Gibbs said, but it is hard to explain and it has really hurt her. They talked all the time.
The train had stopped on Norfolk Southern Railway tracks near Florida Boulevard and Marshall Foch Street. The train was hauling shipping containers and some freight to New Orleans from Atlanta.
CSX spokesman Gary Sease said Gibbs had worked for CSX five years. Sease called the shooting tragic and senseless.
We were saving our money for a formal wedding, said Gwen Gibbs. I was his common-law wife.
She said they had been a couple about a year.
Kendrick Gibbs said CSX has said it will pay for funeral and burial costs. Funeral arrangements are pending.
New Orleans police have asked for tips to solve the slaying.
