Last Thursday was the two-year anniversary of the shooting that occurred with a gun that former Colts receiver Marvin Harrison claimed was in the safe at his home and that it hadn’t been fired in months.
Let’s repeat that one. On April 29, 2008, a shooting occurred with a gun that, according to Harrison, was in the safe at his home and hadn’t been fired in months.
It’s undisputed that the shooting occurred only minutes after Harrison had fought with the target of the shooting, Dwight Dixon. More than a year later, after Dixon had sued Harrison for the shooting, Dixon was shot multiple times. He later died.
Before he slipped into a coma, Dixon told police he had been shot at the behest of Marvin Harrison.
Late last month, Shaun Assael of ESPN The Magazine updated the case. On Tuesday’s Outside the Lines, a report from Assael showed that both cases -- the April 2008 shooting and the July 2009 murder -- remain very much alive.
Assael points to evidence implicating Harrison’s cousin, Lonnie, in the killing of Dixon. Amazingly, surveillance video shows the shooter walking away from the scene, removing a sweatshirt hood, and then returning as a crowd was beginning to gather.
Former Philadelphia prosecutor Lynne Abraham opted not to file charges, despite admitting that she was “pretty comfortable” she knew who fired the gun. But she was concerned about the fact that Dixon initially told police a different story. Dixon explained to Assael several months before his death that he initially feared retaliation from Harrison.
It’s possible that Dixon’s fears came to fruition.
New prosecutor Seth Williams is still investigating both cases. Though it appears that, eventually, action will be taken, each passing day is one more day that the persons responsible for both shootings remain among the free, theoretically able to wound or kill again.
And with Harrison four years away from his first opportunity at what appears to be an inevitable entry into the Hall of Fame, a chance remains that he’ll be inducted in absentia -- or that the mustard-colored blazer will be clashing with an orange jumpsuit.