Addison “Addy” Gibson was a 13-year-old White female from Jonesboro, Arkansas, who died on April 3, 2020, in Mountain Home.
In the picture painted by her family, Addy was the kind of kid who filled up every room she stepped into. She had grown up in Jonesboro, spent her days as an eighth grader at Valley View, and was known for working hard in school and showing up for other students—especially those with special needs.
At church, she helped with AWANA programs, and at home she loved being with family, laughing with friends, and going to the lake—small, ordinary joys that suddenly became precious in hindsight.
That Friday evening, Baxter County investigators said what happened next was not a crime in the usual sense, but a tragedy born out of a moment that should have been harmless. Deputies were called to a home on Panther Heights Drive near Lake Norfork after a 911 call came in at about 5:56 p.m. from a juvenile girl who told dispatchers she had been playing with her father’s gun and accidentally shot her friend. When first responders arrived, Addy was found on the floor inside the residence with a single gunshot wound from a small-caliber rifle; attempts to revive her failed, and she was pronounced dead by the county coroner.
Investigators were told the two girls had been playing hide-and-seek inside the house when one of them went downstairs, found the rifle, and believed it was unloaded. As Addy came down the stairs, the girls laughed about the gun—until it fired. The rifle was taken into evidence, and authorities noted there were no adults in the home at the time. The sheriff’s office said no foul play was suspected, and that the medical examiner would conduct an autopsy to confirm the cause and manner of death. In the publicly available reports describing the incident, the other juvenile involved was not identified, and no arrests or criminal charges were announced.
