District Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for 2016 Stabbing in Southeast Washington

            WASHINGTON – Onzay Gibbs, 28, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 20 years in prison on charges stemming from the stabbing of a man in Southeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

            Gibbs was found guilty by a jury in May 2018 of assault with intent to kill while armed and aggravated assault while armed.  The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  He was sentenced by the Honorable Ronna L. Beck. Following his prison term, Gibbs will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, Gibbs and the victim knew each other from the neighborhood.  At approximately 8:45 p.m. on Sept. 15, 2016, Gibbs and the victim were walking from a dice game in the 2000 block of Savannah Terrace SE towards the corner store.  Gibbs stopped to talk with someone inside a car on 22^nd Street SE, where the victim was then forced inside the car.  The victim next recalled being around the corner in the 3300 block of 23^rd Street SE, where Gibbs repeatedly slashed the victim with a sharp object while saying “shut the f*** up.”  The victim was left for dead in bushes in the area, where he was found by someone who called 911. 

            The victim was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, where he was treated for 16 stab wounds to his face, neck, and body. He was cut three-fourths of the way around his neck. Text messages recovered from Gibbs’s cell phone showed his awareness of the victim’s condition and his efforts to avoid being identified and arrested following the incident.      

            Gibbs was arrested by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force on Oct. 26, 2016, and has been in custody ever since. 

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).  She expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST). She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys C.B. Buente and Kevin L. Rosenberg, Criminal Investigator John Marsh, Paralegal Specialists Tiffany Fogle and Antoinette Sakamsa, and Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Allen.  Finally, she commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittany Keil and Natasha Smalky, who prosecuted the case.