A Laurelton man was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison for the June 2022 fatal shooting of his accomplice during a chaotic gun battle in Ozone Park.
Richard Dixon, 35, of 141st Avenue, was convicted by a jury on May 12 of murder in the second degree and other related crimes for gunning down his partner in crime, 38-year-old Raymond Francis, instead of the individual he was pursuing in a banquet hall parking lot along Cross Bay Boulevard. The jury deliberated for under an hour before reaching a guilty verdict. Dixon fatally shot his accomplice, 38-year-old Raymond Francis of Brownsville, Brooklyn, instead of the individual he was pursuing. The shoot-out also resulted in multiple gun injuries to the two intended victims. Dixon and his first intended victim grew up together in adjacent warring neighborhoods on the island nation of Jamaica.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on June 19, 2022, at around 5 a.m., Dixon and Francis walked into a parking lot off Cross Bay Boulevard near Pitkin Avenue. 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 as he attempted to crawl for his life behind his car. The second victim then took out a licensed 9 mm pistol and began shooting 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. The bullet stuck and ultimately killed his accomplice instead.
Dixon fled the scene in a vehicle later determined to be registered to his wife. Following the shootout, emergency responders found Francis unresponsive and collapsed atop his .40-caliber pistol with a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen. EMS rushed him to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The first intended victim, who suffered extensive gunshot injuries to his face and upper back, was transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, while the second victim was transported by private means to Kings County Hospital for treatment for four gunshot wounds to his leg.
Dixon showed up at Nassau University Medical Center seeking attention for multiple gunshot injuries, including to the leg, groin, buttocks and knee. He made a false report of having been shot at Baisley Pond Park in South Jamaica. The NYPD detectives who initially interviewed Dixon quickly determined that no shooting occurred in Baisley Pond Park that day. The investigators interviewed Dixon again, at which point he admitted to being shot on Cross Bay Boulevard in Ozone Park. Based upon additional investigation involving Dixon’s cell phone and vehicle, and DNA analysis of a backpack he left behind on scene prior to committing the shooting, Dixon was determined to be the shooter.
“Richard Dixon used a military-grade assault weapon to turn a public parking lot in Ozone Park into a genuine war zone,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “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.”
In addition to the murder in the second degree charge, the jury also convicted Dixon on 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 Dixon on July 14 to 25 years to life for the murder and 15 years for each attempted murder count, to be served consecutively.
“The defendant will now serve 55 years to life in prison for the extreme act of violence he visited upon this county,” Katz said. “And for the devastation he inflicted on multiple families.”