Gunshot wounds kill Harrison accuser
By DAVID GAMBACORTA
Philadelphia Daily News
gambacd@phillynews.com 215-854-5994
Dwight Dixon, the local guy who claimed that he had been shot in the hand last year by NFL star Marvin Harrison, died on Friday.
Dixon, 33, never regained consciousness after he was riddled with seven bullets in Fairmount on July 21. That case remains unsolved, and charges were never filed in last year's shooting.
A police source said that Dixon died Friday at 3:17 a.m. at Hahnemann University Hospital from "multiple injuries" caused by the gunshot wounds.
His death adds a sad twist to a story that generated national headlines and was marred by a seemingly endless array of contradictions.
"It's a shame. My heart goes out to his family," said Robert Gamburg, a lawyer who represented Dixon in a civil lawsuit filed against Harrison last fall.
"He was a good man. I know he'll be missed by his family and friends.
"He was a very honest person who made some mistakes in his life and was in the process of moving on until he got caught up in something he didn't want to be caught up in," Gamburg said.
Dixon, who grew up with Harrison in North Philadelphia, claimed that the former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver shot him after the two had a fistfight on Thompson Street near 25th, in North Philadelphia, on April 28, 2008.
Another man, Robert Nixon, claimed that he had also been wounded trying to flee the scene. Nixon filed a civil suit against Harrison earlier this summer.
Ballistics evidence proved that at least five shots had been fired that night from a Belgian-made handgun that Harrison owns.
Despite the evidence - and Harrison's admission to police that he had been involved in the fistfight - District Attorney Lynne Abraham decided earlier this year not to press charges against Harrison.
She said that Harrison, Dixon, Nixon and others provided investigators with multiple false and contradictory statements about the incident.
Dixon was charged with making false reports to police and other offenses and was scheduled to be in court today, according to court records.
Abraham, meanwhile, didn't rule out bringing charges against Harrison down the road, pending the results of his civil suit.
Dixon told the Daily News in January that he initially lied to police about being shot by Harrison, "because I was scared for my life and for my family. I was worried. [Harrison] is well-connected, he has money and he has fame."
Gamburg said yesterday that he was unsure if he will still follow through with the civil lawsuit against Harrison.
"We're going to weigh our options," he said. "His death certainly leaves a lot up to speculation."
Dixon was gunned down in front of a Valu-Plus on Girard Avenue near 28th Street on July 21. The shooting occurred two blocks north of Playmakers, a club owned by Harrison.
A few days after the shooting, police released surveillance images captured by a Valu-Plus security camera that showed the gunman - a thin black man in a dark hooded sweatshirt, jeans and white sneakers - fleeing the scene.
On July 25, detectives executed a search warrant at Playmakers to view the bar's surveillance footage, to determine if the triggerman had been at the bar.
The investigation to determine who shot, and indeed, killed Dwight Dixon is now being handled by the Police Department's Homicide Unit.
Harrison has not been named a suspect, nor has enough evidence been gathered to "put anyone else at the scene so far," a police source said last night.
