Shirley Ann Simms Gabbert, a 71-year-old White woman from Lewisburg, West Virginia, died on January 6, 2025, in a shooting at a residence on Anderson Road. Her obituary records her birth date as November 20, 1953, in Meadow Bridge and says she worked as a supervisory aide at Ronceverte Elementary School. She had been preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Robert Gabbert, and was survived by several children, grandchildren, siblings, and other relatives.
The fatal events unfolded during the morning at 894 Anderson Road. At approximately 8:52 a.m., Greenbrier County Sheriff's Office deputies were dispatched after a 911 call reporting a shooting. According to accounts based on the criminal complaint, dispatchers spoke with a male caller who said he had just shot his parent because he was angry. When deputies reached the property, they encountered Andrew Yancy Gabbert outside in the front yard and detained him without incident.
Inside the residence, emergency personnel found Shirley Gabbert dead. Investigators reported that she had sustained gunshot wounds to the head.
Investigators identified Andrew Yancy Gabbert, Shirley's son, as the suspect. According to reporting on the investigation, he allegedly told deputies that he had fired the shots because he was angry and also made a reference to "the voices." Crime-scene investigators reported finding a. 380-caliber handgun on a computer desk in the living room, along with substantial blood evidence. Authorities further alleged that after the shooting, Andrew moved Shirley's body to the floor, washed himself at a bathroom sink, changed his clothes and then called 911. Those allegations came from the investigative account and criminal complaint and were not findings of guilt at trial.
Andrew Yancy Gabbert was arrested at the residence, processed and transported to Southern Regional Jail. A criminal complaint filed in Greenbrier Magistrate Court charged him with first-degree murder, and early reporting said he was being held without bail. The Greenbrier County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Team processed the residence, with Lt. Gary Workman and Sgt. Brandon McCormick identified as the lead investigators. The sheriff's office was assisted by the Lewisburg Police Department, Lewisburg Fire Department and Greenbrier County Emergency Ambulance Service.
The prosecution later advanced beyond the initial arrest. In October 2025, a Greenbrier County grand jury returned an indictment charging Andrew Yancy Gabbert with murder, formally moving the accusation into circuit-court proceedings. The indictment itself did not constitute a conviction, and the latest specific publicly indexed case update located in online reporting was that murder indictment. No later publicly indexed source located in the search reported that he had entered a guilty plea, gone through a completed trial, been acquitted, or been convicted and sentenced. Consequently, the available online record supports describing Andrew Yancy Gabbert as the arrested and indicted suspect in Shirley Ann Simms Gabbert's killing, rather than as a convicted offender.
