The judge in the case of an off-duty Pentagon officer accused of shooting and killing two people at his apartment complex has declared a mistrial.
David Hall Dixon, of Takoma Park, Maryland, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of use of a handgun in commission of a felony and reckless endangerment in the 2021 killing of Dominique Williams, 32, of Hyattsville, Maryland, and James Lionel Johnson, 38, of District Heights, Maryland.
The jury was deadlocked, and Dixon will be retried, a spokesman for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said.
In a secret ballot, the jury voted 11 to 1 against further deliberations, NBC Washington’s Paul Wagner reported.
“We will meet with the Administrative Judge next week to select new trial dates,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson Lauren DeMarco said in a statement.
Dixon is being held without bond in both this case and an unrelated assault case.
Williams and Johnson died on April 7, 2021, at the hospital after they were shot in the parking lot of the Takoma Park Overlook Condominiums.
When police arrived around 5 a.m., the police statement said that Dixon, who was an officer in the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, told them that he had seen what he thought was a car being broken into and “engaged the suspects.”
Police said both Williams and Johnson had gunshot wounds in their upper backs.
“Our investigation revealed that Mr. Dixon’s overview [of] events was inconsistent with the facts in the case. And that Mr. Dixon had no lawful or justifiable reason to shoot and kill Mr. Williams and Mr. Johnson,” Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul said at a news conference when Dixon’s charges were announced back in April 2021.
