Former James City County police officer will not serve jail time for shooting superior officer

JAMES CITY COUNTY – A former James City County police officer will not serve any jail time in connection to the 2023 shooting of a fellow officer.

Michael Trenton Rusk, 27, was charged with maliciously wounding his superior officer, Christopher Gibson, in a shooting while the two were off-duty on Jan. 25, 2023.

Gibson, who was 38 at the time, was treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries after the incident.

During a hearing at the Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court on Monday, prosecutors withdrew the shooting charge against Rusk. Instead, he was found guilty of a lesser unlawful wounding charge. He was sentenced to three years with all time suspended, according to the Commonwealth’s online case information system.

Rusk filed a $5.5 million federal lawsuit in 2024 against James City County and the police department, alleging that he had faced a hostile work environment. He said Gibson made sexual advances toward him and had sexually assaulted him on the night the shooting occurred.

Rusk told WAVY News that while he is grateful he had avoided jail time, he believes Gibson should “absolutely be behind bars” for sexually assaulting him.

“I’ve never, ever pulled the trigger until I absolutely had to,” Rusk said.