Ridgway Record

Man convicted of 2 killings in Delaware and accused of 4 in Philadelph­ia gets 7 life terms

- By Randall Chase Associated Press

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DOVER, Del. (AP) — A suspected serial killer convicted of murdering two people in Delaware and accused of killing his mother and three others in Philadelph­ia in 2021 was sentenced to seven life terms Friday by a Delaware judge.

Superior Court Judge Ferris Wharton also sentenced Keith Gibson, 41, to almost 300 years for robbery, attempted murder and other charges.

"I have given you as much as I can," Wharton told Gibson, according to the News Journal of Wilmington. "It is not enough."

Authoritie­s say Gibson

went on a violent rampage shortly after being released in December 2020 from a Delaware prison where he served about 13 years for manslaught­er and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

A Wilmington jury convicted him last year of murder and robbery in the killings of Elsmere cellphone store clerk Leslie Ruiz-Basilio, 28, and Wilmington drug dealer Ronald Wright, 42.

Gibson also was convicted of attempted murder and robbery in the shooting of Wilmington store clerk Belal Almansoori, armed robbery of a drug store, assault, conspiracy and gun crimes.

The Philadelph­ia district attorney has also approved murder charges against Gibson in the killings of his mother and a doughnut shop manager, as well as the deaths of two men found shot in the head at a store in the city's Germantown neighborho­od.

Jane Roh, a spokeswoma­n for district attorney Larry Krasner, said Friday that Gibson will be extradited to be formally charged in Philadelph­ia, but no timeline has been set.

Delaware prosecutor­s relied heavily on video surveillan­ce footage showing the robberies and shootings of Ruiz-Basilio and Almansoori. They also argued that ballistics evidence linked the shootings of Ruiz-Basilio and Wright and tied them to a revolver recovered when Gibson was arrested.

Defense attorneys presented no evidence of their own and did not call any witnesses. Instead they tried to poke holes in the prosecutio­n's case by cross-examining witnesses and pointing out that there was no DNA or fingerprin­t evidence linking Gibson to the crimes.

Store surveillan­ce footage from May 2021 shows Ruiz-Basilio being shot in the head at point-blank range as her arms are raised. Her SUV was later recovered in Philadelph­ia near Gibson's home.

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