David Gabriel (2024)

Detective David Gabriel is assigned to the LAPD's Major Crimes Division on The Closer.

Gabriel often acts as an unofficial adjutant/aide to Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, usually accompanying her in the field and being her driver, along with being one her closest confidants within the division.

Character Information[]

In season 2, he started dating Detective Daniels and continued doing so until the beginning of season 4, when they started having problems and eventually broke up.

In “Ruby”, Gabriel beats racist pedophile serial rapist and killer Roger Stimple after the man makes derogatory remarks to Gabriel about his last victim, an abducted missing young black girl named Ruby. As a result of the beating, Stimple reveals where Ruby's body can be found. Stimple is transferred to general population in order to allow other prisoners to beat him and cover up Gabriel's actions. However, Stimple's subsequent suicide causes Brenda to decide that she can't cover up Gabriel's actions and he is suspended without pay for ten days. When Brenda asks him if he will react the same way the next time she puts him into a room with a man like Roger Stimple, Gabriel admits that he doesn't know. Brenda orders Gabriel not to return until he does know for sure.

During “Time Bomb”, Gabriel is involved in a shooting with a deranged young man named Frank who planned to bomb a mall and severely wounded Detective Julio Sanchez who rescued Provenza. Due to Frank's body armor, the detectives and Agent Fritz Howard were unable to take him down despite Flynn's call for head shots. As Frank crouched by his bag of pipe bombs, Brenda ordered her detectives to target the bag. Gabriel managed to hit it with a shot, setting off the bombs and killing Frank, ending his reign of terror.

Near the end of season 4, when they were still arguing, Deputy Chief Johnson was informed by Assistant Chief Pope that she might lose one of her members to the Criminal Intelligence Division of the LAPD. Since Gabriel and Irene's personal difficulties made it impossible for them to work together, Lieutenant Provenza ordered one of them to apply for the position. At the end of “Double Blind”, Pope tells Gabriel that both of them had applied for the position. It was revealed in season 5 that Irene got the position.

In “Red Tape”, while drinking at a bar with Commander Taylor, Gabriel investigates a shooting, leading to him returning fire at someone who shoots at Gabriel when he demands they surrender. Instead of hitting the shooter, Gabriel hits Erik Whitner, an unarmed kid. Erik survives the shooting and Gabriel comes under investigation by FID and Captain Sharon Raydor on suspicion of attempted murder. The rest of Major Crimes manage to find the missing bullets shot at Gabriel and determine that the shooter was actually standing behind Erik when Gabriel fired, resulting in Gabriel hitting the wrong person. The shooter and the killer of the man Gabriel had been investigating turns out to be Erik's cousin Billy who murdered the man in a racially-motivated hate crime while Erik acted as his lookout. Gabriel is cleared of all wrongdoing and is given advice by Taylor and Julio on how to handle his mandatory therapy interview the next day. He still feels guilty over shooting Erik however as Erik was unarmed.

In “Armed Response”, Captain Sharon Raydor of FID reveals to Gabriel that his fiancé Anne Mason was Peter Goldman's leak, using information Gabriel gave her while discussing his doubts in the Turrell Baylor case and other cases. After learning how far Anne went to become close to him, the disgusted Gabriel refuses to hear Anne out, ends their relationship and throws her out of his house. At his own request, Gabriel acknowledges what he put Brenda and the rest of the squad through. Though all but Julio Sanchez forgive him, Andy Flynn tells Gabriel to put in for a transfer. Gabriel later attempts to resign, but is talked out of it by Brenda who recognizes her culpability in the situation.

In the end of The Closer, Gabriel is transferred to the D.A.'s Office's Bureau of Investigation to act as liaison officer to the LAPD when Brenda Leigh Johnson becomes its Chief. Before this, Gabriel is clearly distrusted by the squad due to his inadvertently acting as the leak.

Officer-involved shootings[]

• Frank (“Time Bomb”)
• Erik Whitner (non-fatally shot) (“Red Tape”)

Career information[]

• David has been seen wearing two different badges:
  • During The Closer, Seasons 1–5, his badge number as a Sergeant is 714 though sometimes he can be seen with a badge that has four numbers ending with 02, but the first two numbers cannot be seen clearly; and
  • During The Closer, Seasons 6–7, his badge number as a Detective is 5349 (this badge was later used by Det. Amy Sykes during Major Crimes).

    

• When in uniform, David wears three service stripes on his uniform. Each stripe represents five years of service in the LAPD, meaning he has served for 15–19 years. (“Repeat Offender”)
  • When David was seen in uniform in “Strike Three”, he wore two stripes, meaning 10–14 years of service. This means that during The Closer, David was always junior to Det. Julio Sanchez even though the show treated them the other way around. Even though David was originally a Sergeant I, he still did not outrank Julio at any time, as they were always comparable in rank (Sergeant I is comparable to Julio's Detective II).

• During Season 5, Gabriel was frustrated with his position in the LAPD as a Sergeant. He even talked with Commander Russell Taylor about possibly taking the Lieutenant's exam but decided against it because outside of Major Crimes, Lieutenant is a very administrative position. Partly on Taylor's suggestion, Gabriel prepared for and eventually took the Detective's Exam. After that, he was laterally promoted to Detective II, the first supervisory detective rank which is comparable to his previous rank as a Sergeant I.

Medals and service awards worn by Det. Gabriel[]

As seen in “Repeat Offender”:

Ribbon	Award name and description
	Community Policing Medal The Community Policing Medal is awarded to personnel who have solved a significant community problem, included the community in the problem solving process, and/or shown a commitment to the LAPD's Community Policing philosophy.
	Human Relations Medal The Human Relations Medal is awarded to officers who have in their day‑to‑day activities shown great compassion and have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their response to fellow human beings.
	Police Meritorious Service Medal The Police Meritorious Service Medal is awarded to employees who distinguish themselves by performing exceptional service in a duty of great responsibility or of critical importance to law enforcement, but to a lesser degree than required for the Police Distinguished Service Medal.
	Expert Marksmanship Badge Officers must score 380 out of a possible 400 points in the voluntary bonus qualification shoots (held every month). Officers who have qualified as Experts receive $32 in compensation in their bi-weekly paychecks.

Trivia[]

• Gabriel has a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.