An off-duty Pentagon police officer who fatally shot two men in the parking lot of his Takoma Park condo building in 2021 has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges.
David Hall Dixon, 42, opened fire on a car in the parking lot of the Takoma Park Overlook Condominiums in the predawn hours of April 7, 2021, firing five shots and fatally striking 38-year-old James Johnson and 32-year-old Dominique Williams.
Dixon told police he believed the men were trying to break into a parked van. A third man, who was behind the wheel of the car Dixon shot at, was not hurt.
In addition to the second-degree murder charges, Dixon pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault. He is set to be sentenced before Judge Michael Mason on Nov. 16 and faces a maximum of 30 years in prison per the plea agreement with prosecutors.
Dixon has already gone to trial on second-degree murder charges once before, but the jury deadlocked and the judge in the case declared a mistrial earlier this year. Dixon was set to be retried.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference following Dixon’s guilty plea, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said while Dixon was an officer with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, he had no police powers in the state of Maryland.
“And he was not supposed to use his Pentagon-issued service revolver for personal reasons,” McCarthy said.
He added the surveillance video from the condo parking lot shows Dixon chasing the men’s car across the parking lot with his gun raised before firing five shots into the rear of the car as it sped away.
“Look, you’re allowed to defend yourself, if you are in danger. You have rights of self-defense under Maryland law,” McCarthy said. “The facts just simply didn’t support that.”
Dixon “was the initial aggressor,” McCarthy said, adding, “This was outrageous conduct; it was unlawful conduct. It was murder.”
McCarthy added, “For relatively minor car crimes, we don’t allow you to take human life.”
About a year before the shooting, Dixon allegedly pulled a shotgun on a homeless woman and then pepper-sprayed her after encountering her in the lobby of his building. Dixon told police the woman swung an object at him and his dog.
After the altercation with the homeless woman, Dixon had been warned not to threaten suspected trespassers with his gun and instead to call police, McCarthy said.
Dixon was eventually charged in the assault involving the homeless woman, but McCarthy said prosecutors will no longer pursue that assault case. Instead, prosecutors will present information related to that case to the judge at his sentencing on the second-degree murder charges.
During the news conference, Marcus Kornegay, a cousin of one of the victims, read a short statement.
“We’re relieved that Mr. Dixon has accepted responsibility for his actions. And now we’re prayerful and will remain prayerful that the Montgomery County justice system will handle his sentencing justly and appropriately,” Kornegay said in the statement.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
