Authorities to rule Fluvanna death an accident

The Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office is on the verge of officially labeling the death of Joseph Vincent Giebel, 42, of Troy, an accident.

Giebel died in August while driving a Gator-brand utility vehicle. A .22-caliber rifle in the vehicle discharged, and the bullet struck him in the head.

After he died, the gator crashed into a tree, sending a passenger in the vehicle to a hospital.

Lt. David Wells of the Sheriff’s Office said he conducted drop tests that showed the rifle would fire if jarred. The rifle was an older single-shot bolt action with an exterior cocking mechanism at the rear of the bolt, Wells said.

When the rifle was dropped, nothing stopped the pin from moving forward and firing any round left in the chamber, he said.

Wells will officially close the case once all reports come in from the medical examiner’s office, but the disposition of the case is a foregone conclusion, he said.

“We have no indication at all that it was anything other than accidental,” he said.

Wells added later, “There’s just no reasonable suspicion, no kind of evidence that indicates that foul play was involved in any way.”