Kimberly Ann Nixon, a 25-year-old University graduate, was released from Sacred Heart Medical Center on Sept. 14, eight days after being shot four times by her ex-boyfriend in an apparent murder-suicide.
Nixon’s ex-boyfriend, Lucas Baldwin Gibbons, shot her in the arms, chest and leg with a .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol as she spoke with 9-1-1 dispatchers on Sept. 6, said Sergeant Scott McKee, supervisor of the Eugene Police Department violent crimes unit.
Gibbons then turned on Nixon’s boyfriend, Skye Forest Balkwill, shooting him in the head and upper torso before Gibbons turned the gun on himself.
Gibbons, 22, and Balkwill, 23, both died at the scene, McKee said.
McKee said that because “the suspect ended his own life,” it is a “relatively open-and-shut case.” His department will investigate where Gibbons got the weapon and whether there were “warning signs” of the crime. Also, the case won’t be closed until results of the autopsies are returned, he said.
McKee said Gibbons and Balkwill had been “best friends” when Gibbons and Nixon broke up. Balkwill expressed his interest in dating Nixon and asked for his friend’s approval. Gibbons then reportedly gave the future relationship “his blessing.”
Nixon said neither she nor Balkwill had concerns about Gibbons when he came over to Nixon’s apartment at 891 Taylor St., at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, McKee said. All three had apparently been getting along, and there had been no reports of prior criminal incidents between the three, McKee said.
But when Gibbons arrived at the apartment he began voicing his disapproval of the relationship and talked about his resulting depression. He then went to the bathroom and returned with the weapon, declaring his intent to kill all three of them, McKee said.
Nixon stood up and tried to talk him out of it, but was forced to sit back down on the couch. She then called 9-1-1 on her cell phone at 8:21 p.m. She was shot during her call.
Gibbons then killed Balkwill and himself.
Nixon, although seriously wounded, managed to crawl down the stairs to her front yard while she communicated with authorities on the phone. Police arrived to find her there and the two men upstairs in the apartment.
Nixon graduated from the University in June 2003 with a Bachelor’s of Science in psychology, according to the University Office of the Registrar.
All three individuals were from Eugene.
According to McKee, the last time of crime of this nature occurred was about four years ago, when an estranged husband came home, found his wife with her new boyfriend and killed both the man and himself.
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