A 42-year-old former Pentagon police officer will spend more than two decades behind bars for killing two men in April 2021, shooting them in the parking lot of his Maryland condominium complex as they were driving away from him because he allegedly saw them breaking into a car.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael Mason on Thursday ordered David H. Dixon to serve a sentence of 25 years in a state correctional facility for the slayings of 32-year-old Dominique Williams and 38-year-old James Lionel Johnson, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Dixon pleaded guilty in September to two counts of second-degree murder for killing Williams and Johnson.
The driver of the Lexus that Dixon shot at, Michael Thomas, survived the attack and was the key witness as authorities built their case against Dixon. Dixon also pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault for shooting at — and nearly hitting — Thomas as he drove away from the apartment complex parking lot.
David Dixon (Montgomery County State Attorney’s Office)
Dixon initially told investigators the suspects almost ran him over. His defense attorneys asserted Dixon shot at the car in self-defense because the vehicle was coming at him, Washington, D.C. CBS affiliate WUSA reported. Detectives determined Dixon opened fire only after he was behind the vehicle and no longer in danger, striking both victims with fatal shots to the back.
Prosecutors with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office described Dixon as a reckless vigilante who opened fire without justification, according to a recent court filing obtained by The Washington Post. “Mr. Williams and Mr. Johnson should be alive today. If they were committing an offense, there are penalties for their misdeeds.”
“The defendant murdered James Johnson and Dominique Williams by shooting them both in the back,” the document reportedly stated. The filing also noted how, before the double murder, Dixon had been caught on security camera footage pointing a shotgun at a homeless woman who was in the lobby of the condominium complex.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the footage showed the then-officer for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency wearing flip-flops in the lobby of the building and pointing a rifle at the homeless woman. Dixon was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident in 2020.
Dixon went to trial earlier this year for the shootings, but the jury failed to come back with a verdict. However, prosecutors continued to pursue the charges.
James Johnson, left, and Dominique Williams (Montgomery County State Attorney’s Office)
Before Judge Mason handed down the multi-decade sentence, Dixon apologized to the family of the victims, D.C. news radio station WTOP reported.
“I am remorseful. I’ll be remorseful for the rest of my life,” Dixon reportedly told the court. “I take full responsibility for my actions. I instinctively reacted, given my law enforcement training. I’m sorry to the families. My heart aches for the families.”
He reportedly added, “On April 7, I failed. I have the deepest sense of remorse for the families.”
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