Jury selection begins Monday in Eighth Judicial District Court. Gavin Heath Gilbert, 17, will be tried for Felony 1 Murder. Gilbert is in Hopkins County Jail being held on a $2-million bond for murder and $500,000 bond on each of the four counts of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. The trial for the murder charge is set to begin Tuesday morning.
Gilbert was arrested in December of last year when a call to Hopkins County Deputies alerted law enforcement to a shooting that occurred on County Road 1185 near the South Liberty Community. Tyrese Pryor, 18, was in a vehicle that was driven to the Hopkins County Fire Department. Pryor had two gunshot wounds. He was transported to CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital where he was pronounced dead by Justice of the Peace B. J. Teer. Gilbert was arrested when the Texas Ranger, DPS, and the combined Hopkins County/Sulphur Springs SWAT team served a warrant around 2 a.m. the next day following the shooting at the Gilbert home, according to Sheriff Lewis Tatum. Tatum stated a disagreement between Gilbert, who was on foot on the county road, and five individuals in the vehicle led to the shooting. Four shots were fired into the vehicle with two rounds striking Pryor.
