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Shannon Fielding and Kelly Gibbs' deaths explained: How Gibbs' wife and daughter died in the NCISverse

With the prequel series NCIS: Origins focusing on young Gibbs in the aftermath of losing his family, how did Shannon and Kelly Gibbs die? Refresh your memory before the series premiere!

By Elizabeth Learned

“Enter Sandman” / “Enter Sandman, Part 2” – NCIS: ORIGINS follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell) in 1991, years prior to the events of NCIS, and is narrated by Mark Harmon. In the series, Gibbs starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office, where he forges his place on a gritty ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid), on the series premiere of NCIS: ORIGINS, Monday, Oct. 14 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS.
“Enter Sandman” / “Enter Sandman, Part 2” – NCIS: ORIGINS follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell) in 1991, years prior to the events of NCIS, and is narrated by Mark Harmon. In the series, Gibbs starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office, where he forges his place on a gritty ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid), on the series premiere of NCIS: ORIGINS, Monday, Oct. 14 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS. / CBS
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One of the defining moments of Leroy Jethro Gibbs’s life was the murders of his wife, Shannon, and his daughter, Kelly. Their deaths were explained over the course his run on NCIS and fans will see the aftermath directly in the prequel series NCIS: Origins. What exactly happened and why were they killed? Here's what we know.

In the prequel series, which is set to premiere on Monday, Oct. 14, the show will follow the events of the deaths of Gibbs’s family as he begins working at NIS under Agent Mike Franks. In the show’s canon, it will take place four months after the murders. 

NCIS season 13 episode 2, "Personal Day," details what happened to Shannon and Kelly. Just a week before their deaths, on February 14, Pedro Hernandez, a Mexican drug dealer, shot and killed a marine. Since the cartel often recruited military members, it is likely he was involved and there was a dispute that led to his death

At any rate, Shannon and Kelly were witnesses to the murder and were placed under NIS protection before testifying at his trial. This could have led to the cartel’s operation being exposed so it meant someone wanted them dead. In fact, an agent assigned to their case had backed off, leaving Agent Mike Franks to hand off their security detail to someone else.

They were assigned to NIS Agent Kurt Mitchell, who Gibbs said took the case because he would want someone to protect his family if something went wrong. Unfortunately, this did occur. He was driving them to a safe house when Hernandez shot him, causing the car to crash. Both Shannon and Kelly died as a result of the accident. 

In “Personal Day,” the team learned the murder was orchestrated by Benson Long, who was a boss for the Reynosa Cartel and ordered Hernandez to take the shot.

Hernandez himself was killed after the murders by none other than Gibbs, who enacted the killing in revenge. However, he would admit in the episode that what he did couldn't bring his family back, to prevent Mitchell’s son, DEA Agent Luis Mitchell, from killing Long in a similar manner.

Losing his family had a monumental impact on Gibbs’s life and we saw how much it still grieved him decades afterward. So seeing Gibbs fresh off of losing his family will be something new as we watch him grow into the man we know him as today. Two episodes of NCIS: Origins will air on Monday, Oct. 14 at 9/8c before the show moves to the 10 pm hour on Oct. 21.

Stay tuned to Americans Undercover for more updates on NCIS: Origins. Follow us on X and Facebook.

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