Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Richard Dixon was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison for the June 2022 murder of his accomplice, Raymond Francis, whom he fired upon after shooting past one of the individuals he was pursuing. The incident also resulted in multiple gunshot wounds to the two intended victims. The defendant and the first intended victim grew up together in adjacent neighborhoods in the country of Jamaica.

District Attorney Katz said: “Richard Dixon used a military-grade assault weapon to turn a public parking lot in Ozone Park into a genuine war zone. He ambushed two people in that parking lot and fired at them, seriously wounding each man. He then shot and killed his own accomplice with a bullet meant for one of his targets. The defendant will now serve 55 years to life in prison for the extreme act of violence he visited upon this county, and for the devastation he has inflicted on multiple families.”

Dixon, 35, of Laurelton, was convicted by a jury in May of murder in the second degree, and two counts each of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

Queens Acting Supreme Court Justice Gia Morris sentenced the defendant Tuesday to 25 years to life for the murder and 15 years for each attempted murder count, to be served consecutively.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges and trial testimony, on June 19, 2022, at approximately 5 a.m., Dixon and Francis walked into a parking lot off Cross Bay Boulevard in Ozone Park. Dixon was holding an AR-style assault weapon and Francis had a .40-caliber pistol.

The pair approached their two intended targets who had just left a party and were waiting by their respective vehicles because another car was blocking them from leaving.

Dixon pointed the assault weapon at one of the victims and shot him in the face, taking off approximately half of his jaw. Dixon continued following and firing mercilessly at the victim, shooting him in the back, as he crawled for his life behind his car.

The second victim then took out a registered 9 mm pistol and began firing at Dixon. Dixon fired back at the second victim who fell backward into his own car. Dixon immediately fired again in the direction where the second victim had been standing. That bullet, however, struck and ultimately killed his accomplice, Francis, instead.

Dixon fled from the scene in a vehicle later determined to be registered to his wife.

Following the shootout, emergency responders found 38-year-old Francis unresponsive and collapsed atop his .40-caliber pistol. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital from a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen.

The first intended victim, who suffered extensive gunshot injuries to his face and upper back, was taken to a different hospital for emergency treatment. The second victim was treated at a third hospital for gunshot wounds to his leg.

Dixon showed up at a Nassau County hospital seeking attention for multiple gunshot injuries, including to the leg, groin, buttocks and knee. He made a false report about having been shot in Baisley Pond Park. The NYPD detectives who initially interviewed the defendant quickly determined that no shooting took place in Baisley Pond Park that day.

The investigators re-interviewed Dixon at which point the defendant admitted to having been shot on Cross Bay Boulevard in Ozone Park. Based upon additional investigation involving the defendant’s cell phone, vehicle, and DNA analysis of a backpack the defendant left behind on scene prior to committing the shooting, Dixon was determined to be the shooter who killed Francis and injured the two others.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Weinstein of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Alexa M. Moreno of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.