Police say he killed people in Wilmington and Philadelphia. What first day of trial showed

Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of a man suspected of six killings across northern New Castle County and in Philadelphia.

Over the coming weeks, Delaware prosecutors will seek to convince a jury that Keith Gibson is responsible for the spring 2021 robberies and murders of a 28-year-old mother working at an Elsmere T-Mobile store, as well as a 42-year-old man shot dead at a home in Wilmington.

In addition to separate first-degree murder charges for those killings, Gibson faces multiple other charges tied to the killings, as well as the nonfatal shooting of a convenience store clerk and the robbery of a local drugstore that ultimately led to his arrest in Wilmington.

In Pennsylvania, Gibson has not been formally indicted but authorities there have said they intend to charge him in connection with four additional killings that occurred in Philadelphia during the same spring.

On Tuesday, Delaware prosecutors gave their opening statements to a jury. Here's what happened.

The Delaware homicides, robberies

Deputy Attorney General Ipek Kurul told the jury the local investigation into the alleged crimes tracks from Delaware to North Philadelphia multiple times in a monthslong span in 2021 and started in Elsmere.

First, she showed the jury a video compilation from the T-Mobile store along Kirkwood Highway on May 15, 2021. In it, a masked man armed with a revolver robs and ushers Leslie Ruiz-Basilio, a 28-year-old working alone in the store, into a back room. He shoots her once in the head and walks out, according to the video.

Kurul told the jury that key evidence from that day includes a neighbor of the T-Mobile store finding a bicycle in the woods near her home and reporting it to police. Another witness told police she saw an unusual individual with a hood riding a bicycle in the neighborhood that day.

Police would later connect the bicycle to Gibson using a receipt found in his residence, the bike's serial number, as well as a key found in his possession.

After killing Ruiz-Basilio, the assailant steals her car, which is later found by police in North Philadelphia near where detectives later determined Gibson was living, Kurul said.

It was also near where authorities say Gibson killed 41-year-old Christine Lugo during a robbery as she opened a Dunkin' store in North Philadelphia on June 5, 2021. Gibson is not on trial for that homicide as it occurred outside of Delaware, but Kurul told the jury the investigations into the two killings intertwined.

Prosecutors showed the jury video of the robbery in which a masked man holding a revolver takes money before killing Lugo. Kurul told the jury that a detective will testify regarding the similar mannerisms displayed by the killer in both that killing and the T-Mobile store homicide and other evidence they developed connecting the two.

Gibson is accused of killing again later that same day.

Kurul told the jury that 42-year-old Ronald Wright sold drugs out of a home on Third Street in Wilmington. He was found dead of a gunshot wound in that home. She showed the jury video of a man they identified as Wright entering the home with a black backpack during the day. Video shows a man exiting that home later with a backpack, Kurul told the jury.

Gibson was carrying a black sling bag when he was arrested. Kurul told the jury one of Wright's family members will identify that backpack as Wright's.

Next, Kurul showed the jury a compilation of videos from the robbery of a convenience store in Wilmington that occurred a day after Wright's homicide.

In it, the assailant fires on a young clerk, who drops to the floor and "plays dead," Kurul said. As the masked assailant rummages the cashier, he points his revolver to the clerk on the floor and shoots him. That process is repeated again before the man leaves the store.

The clerk would miraculously survive gunshot wounds to his head and arm, Kurul told the jury.

In the video, Kurul pointed out that the assailant was wearing gloves with markings that were similar to those recovered on Gibson when he was arrested.

Gibson would ultimately be arrested two days later after a non-fatal robbery. Video shows two men entering a Rite Aid in Wilmington. One, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, points a gun at a cashier and demands cash. The other steals cigarettes.

But the cash the victim gave to the robber had a tracker tucked away inside. Police quickly descended on a stretch of rowhomes a few blocks away. There, they arrested Gibson hiding in a backyard, Kurul told the jury. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, was armed with a knife and an empty gun holster, and carried gloves, a mask, bullets and cash in his pockets, prosecutors said.

Police would find trace cash, cigarettes and clothes prosecutors said matched the Rite Aid robbery in a house nearby. A black revolver was found tucked away near where Gibson was hiding, Kurul said.

Kurul told the jury that ballistics experts will testify to how bullets recovered from some victims matched the revolver, as well as other ballistic similarities between bullets found loaded in the revolver and at multiple homicide scenes.

One of Gibson's defense attorneys objected to this, arguing that Kurul was overstating what those experts could testify to in relation to the killings.

Kurul described this evidence as "puzzle pieces" the jury will be able to assemble as witnesses testify. She also said a close associate of Gibson will actually put him at the homicide scenes. That person saw surveillance footage distributed to the media depicting the Dunkin' killing and called in what they thought was an anonymous tip, Kurul told the jury.

They would later be interviewed by police and will testify that Gibson is the man depicted in videos of the killings and that he made incriminating statements regarding the bicycle that was found near the T-Mobile store.

In Keith Gibson's defense

Gibson's defense attorney Richard Sparaco said despite all the videos showing that crimes did occur, he questioned the prosecutors' ability to identify his client as the person involved.

Sparaco emphasized the absence of DNA evidence linking Gibson to any of the crime scenes. Item by item, he noted that prosecutors could not connect his client's DNA to any particular puzzle piece Kurul outlined in her opening statement.

"Which means it could have been someone else," he told the jury. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is reasonable doubt."

He also emphasized his client's presumption of innocence, as well as the visceral nature of the crimes, telling the jury that emotion or any desire to punish should not cloud their assessment of the evidence.

The Philadelphia cases

Once Gibson's trial ends in Delaware, he is set to face murder charges in Philadelphia.

In February 2021, Gibson's mother, 54-year-old Christine Gibson, was fatally shot at her workplace in Philadelphia's East Falls neighborhood. According to court documents, Gibson was named by investigators as a primary suspect in that murder.

Gibson's arrest: Man indicted on 41 felonies including multiple murder charges

He will also be charged with murder for the killing of Lugo in the Dunkin', as well as the deaths of two men shot to death inside a North Philadelphia store that occurred in January of that year.

In a written statement Monday, a spokesperson for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said their office had "pre-approved" charges against Gibson for the Philadelphia shootings. When Gibson's cases are resolved in Delaware, he will be formally arrested and charged in Philadelphia's legal system, the statement concludes.

Keith Gibson was out on probation

Gibson is charged with murdering the two Delaware victims shortly after he violated his probation but was released by a local judge. One of the Philadelphia killings that authorities believe he committed also occurred during this time.

Gibson served a decade in Delaware prisons after pleading guilty to manslaughter for a 2008 fatal shooting and robbery.

He was released on probation in 2020. He was arrested and imprisoned again for six months starting that June after involvement in a fight in his probationary housing. He was released again in December. Part of the stipulations of his probation was that he not leave Delaware without permission.

Previous reporting: How a man wanted in 3 recent killings in Philadelphia, Delaware was out on the street

But in February, he was arrested again, briefly, and questioned regarding the homicide of his mother. He was not charged with that killing, but shortly after, he was charged with violating his probation by his presence in Philadelphia.

A probation officer noted to the court that Philadelphia authorities had labeled him the "the prime suspect in the murder of his mother." Based on this and other factors, his probation officer initially recommended he be sentenced to more than six years in prison for violating his probation.

Later, Gibson's defense attorney cited mitigating factors that included Gibson having prospects for stable housing, a job and community supports upon his release in arguing that he should be sentenced to time served, according to a statement from a Department of Correction spokesperson in 2021.

According to that statement, the probation officer was swayed to revise their recommendation in line with the defense attorney and Gibson was released in April 2021 about a month before Ruiz-Basilio was killed.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Man accused of murders in Wilmington and Philadelphia goes to trial