A Pentagon agent accused of fatally shooting two men he ‘believed’ had stolen a car in the parking lot of his Maryland apartment building this week has a history of firing weapons in his building, according to a video from last year that now has law enforcement. examine the officer more closely.
David Hall Dixon pointed a firearm at a homeless woman in the lobby of his apartment complex one evening in May 2020 and barked at her to leave, film footage. Takoma Park Police plans to press charges against him “for his actions in assaulting” her, WJLA reports.
Dixon reportedly told the woman to leave the building after a series of breakdowns. When she didn’t, he returned to his apartment and brought what appeared to be a shotgun. He pointed the gun at her and repeated his orders to leave the property, which she did, driving a red shopping cart with her. Dixon followed her through the doors. He didn’t fire the gun.
Dixon, an officer with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency since 2019, has been charged with two charges of murdering Dominique Williams, a 32-year-old resident of Hyattsville, and James Lionel Johnson, a 38-year-old Resident of District Heights, in the parking lot Wednesday morning of the same building.
Dixon was arrested on Friday and is in prison without a bond. He’s been given administrative leave from the Pentagon Force.
Family members described the two victims as best friends. Johnson fathered three children, including a baby. His cousin Marcus Cornegay said in a press conference Friday, “He treated everyone who crossed his path with love and respect, as if they were family. We as a family really struggle with this to find logic as to why he was taken from us. “
A family attorney, David Haynes, said Johnson and Williams “were shot in cold blood, without cause, without justification.”
Takoma Park Police said when their agents arrived on the scene at about 5am on Wednesday, Dixon approached them and said he had seen what he “thought” was an attempted car theft.
According to loading documents reported by The Washington PostDixon identified himself as a Pentagon off-duty officer and told police he was going to work when he saw a Lexus driving across the parking lot with headlights off.
He said he had previously seen one of the men in the Lexus trying to break into 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 run him over, prompting him to open fire.
But surveillance footage showed Dixon firing as the car drove away, the loading papers say.
While authorities determined that an attempted car theft had indeed taken place, they said the car with the three men in it “no longer posed an imminent threat that would justify the use of deadly force.”
Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul said Friday that Dixon had “no lawful or justifiable reason” for firing his service weapon: “He was a civilian acting as a civilian who happened to be a law enforcement officer in another jurisdiction.”
DeVaul added that Dixon’s account of events “was inconsistent with the evidence and facts in the case.”
Williams and Johnson were taken to nearby St. George’s hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds to their upper back, wounds consistent with being shot from behind, according to a medical examiner. Both died there.
A third man, Michael Thomas, 36, was driving the car. Dixon faces additional charges of attempted second-degree murder for opening fire on Thomas, as well as reckless threats and the use of a gun when committing a crime. Thomas has not been charged with a crime.
Dixon isn’t the only one in the Pentagon Force to pull his service weapon off-duty. Another officer shot dead a 16-year-old who he claimed robbed him on the evening of March 24 in Washington, DC
The agency’s acting director said leaders would provide training to “provide care in response to both incidents [officers] have a full understanding of their off-duty responsibilities. “