A Pentagon police officer accused of fatally shooting two men he “thought” to steal a car in the parking lot of his Maryland apartment complex has a history of guns in his building, according to ‘ a video from last year that now has law enforcement. to investigate the officer more closely.
One night in May 2020, David Hall Dixon aimed a firearm at a homeless woman in the foyer of his apartment complex and barked at her to leave, the footage shows. Police in Takoma Park are planning to file charges against him for his actions in assaulting her, reports WJLA.
Dixon reportedly told the woman to leave the building after a series of disruptions. When she did not do so, he returned to his apartment and brought a shotgun. He points the weapon at her and repeats his orders to evacuate the premises, and she does so as she rolls out a red shopping cart with her. Dixon follows her through the doors. He did not fire the gun.
Dixon, an officer with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency since 2019, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the murders of Dominique Williams, a 32-year-old Hyattsville resident, and James Lionel Johnson, a 38-year-old. District Heights resident, Wednesday morning in the parking lot of the same building.
Dixon was arrested Friday and remains in jail unrelated. He was placed on administrative leave from the Pentagon.
Family members described the two victims as best friends. Johnson was a father of three, including a baby. His cousin Marcus Cornegay said at a news conference on Friday: ‘He treated everyone who crossed his path with love and respect, as their family was. We as a family are really struggling with this to try to determine the logic why he was taken away from us. ”
A family lawyer, David Haynes, said Johnson and Williams were “shot dead in cold blood, for no reason, without any justification.”
According to Takoma Park police, when their officers arrived at the scene around 5 a.m. Wednesday, Dixon approached them and said he saw what he believed was an attempted theft.
According to indictments on which The Washington Post, Dixon identified himself as a Pentagon officer and told police he was leaving for work when he noticed a Lexus, with his headlights off, driving through the parking lot.
He said he saw one of the men in the Lexus earlier trying to break the window of another car in the parking lot. He said he confronted the men in the Lexus, but they “gassed” it and tried to attack him and asked him to make fire.
But the footage showed Dixon shooting as the car drove away, the indictment documents say.
While authorities determined that an attempted car theft had indeed taken place, they said the car with the three men inside ‘was no longer an immediate threat that would justify the use of deadly force.’
Takoma Park police chief Antonio DeVaul said Friday that Dixon had “no legal or justifiable reason” to fire his service weapon: “He was a citizen who acted as a citizen, who happened to be a law enforcement officer.” was another jurisdiction. ‘
DeVaul added that Dixon’s review of the events “is inconsistent with the evidence and facts in the case.”
Williams and Johnson went to nearby St. Louis. George Hospital drove for the treatment of gunshot wounds to their backs, which according to a medical examiner corresponded to the shooting from behind. Both died there.
A third man, Michael Thomas, 36, was driving the car. Dixon is facing other charges of attempted second-degree murder for firing on Thomas, as well as reckless intimidation and the use of a handgun at the behest of an offense. Thomas was not charged with a crime.
Dixon is not alone in the Pentagon’s power to draw his service weapon during military service. Another officer shot a 16-year-old man who he allegedly shot at him on the night of March 24 in Washington, DC.
The acting director of the bureau said leaders would provide training in response to both incidents “to ensure [officers] have a full understanding of their responsibilities that are out of service. “