{
  "id": 4450321,
  "title": "The Depressing Reason Why Gibbs Never Locks His Front Door On NCIS",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/30/the-depressing-reason-why-gibbs-never-locks-his-front-door-on-ncis",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-30T15:12:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TVLine",
    "slug": "tvline",
    "url": "https://www.tvline.com/2246762/why-gibbs-never-locks-front-door-ncis/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Mark Harmon's NCIS character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, is known for never locking his front door. While the reason behind this remains unexplained, co-star Cote de Pablo suggested that Gibbs has moved on from the tragic loss of his daughter Kelly and first wife Shannon. She believed that leaving his door unlocked symbolized Gibbs' indifference, as he had already lost what he cherished most, and thus cared less about the safety of his home. Weatherly also posited that Gibbs left his door open as a potential safety measure, in case the killers returned. However, de Pablo found these explanations to be \"really close\" to the sad truth. In the Season 3 finale, it was revealed that drug dealer Pedro Hernandez killed Gibbs' daughter and first wife in a car crash. Gibbs later avenged their deaths by killing Pedro. In the prequel series NCIS: Origins, fans witnessed how Gibbs managed to track down and shoot Hernandez from a distance. Co-creator David J. North revealed that this storyline has been building up for a long time, and it was one of the top moments in Season 1 of NCIS: Origins.",
  "summary": "It's not because the onetime hero of CBS' long-running procedural trusts his neighbors and lives in a uniquely low-crime neighborhood.",
  "key_points": [
    "Gibbs' daughter Kelly and first wife Shannon killed in car crash.",
    "Mark Harmon's Gibbs left front door unlocked as indifference.",
    "Pedro Hernandez avenged deaths in NCIS: Origins."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}