In the early hours of a November morning in 2017, off-duty Washington, D.C. police sergeant Tony Anthony Mason Jr., a 40-year-old male, was fatally shot in Baltimore, Maryland. The 17-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department was sitting in a parked car with a woman he was dating on Elgin Avenue when the attack occurred. Shortly after 12:30 a.m. on November 4th, a dark-colored car pulled up alongside them. An occupant in the vehicle called out before opening fire.
Mason was struck multiple times and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The woman with him was also shot in the leg but survived her injuries. At the time of the shooting, Mason was not in uniform and was unarmed.
For years, the case remained unsolved, a painful mystery for Mason's family and colleagues. Investigators found no evidence of criminal or gang activity in the backgrounds of Mason or his companion. A significant reward of $60,000 was offered for information leading to an arrest, but the investigation grew cold. The break in the case finally came in early 2023 when a tip was submitted to Metro Crime Stoppers. This new information reinvigorated the investigation and pointed detectives toward a suspect.
In April 2024, Baltimore prosecutors announced a major development in the long-unsolved homicide. Dion Thompson, 24, was charged with the murder of Tony Anthony Mason Jr. At the time of the shooting, Thompson was 18 years old. The charges were the first to be brought by the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office's new cold case unit. Thompson was already in federal prison on unrelated drug and gun charges when he was charged with Mason's murder.
The motive for the shooting, as detailed in charging documents, appears to be a tragic case of mistaken identity and paranoia. A witness, who knew Thompson, told investigators that Thompson admitted to the shooting. According to this witness, Thompson saw the parked car with occupants he didn't recognize and, feeling paranoid, assumed they were there to rob or retaliate against him for robberies he had been committing. Thompson allegedly later learned from news reports that his victim was a police officer and subsequently got rid of the vehicle he used that night. The charging documents also mention two other individuals who were allegedly involved in the shooting, one of whom later died in a car crash.
