In the afternoon hours of a Thursday in Macon, Georgia, a day that began like any other for 30-year-old Shakema Dickson, would tragically become her last. On November 7, 2019, a burst of gunfire shattered the peace within her Pio Nono Circle home, leaving a devastating scene for first responders to discover. Shakema and her 2-year-old daughter were found with multiple gunshot wounds. Both were rushed to a nearby medical center, but Shakema succumbed to her injuries shortly after 3 p.m.
In a final, heart-wrenching act of love, detectives believe she had been trying to shield her young daughter from the barrage of bullets. The little girl was critically injured but survived.
The initial hours of the investigation were marked by confusion. An argument was reported to have taken place inside the home before the shooting, and a man, 19-year-old Darrell Dexter Solomon, was seen fleeing the scene. He later turned himself in to the Bibb County Sheriff's Office. However, after questioning, investigators determined that Solomon, who was identified as Dickson's boyfriend, was not the shooter. It was revealed that he had exchanged gunfire with the actual assailant. Evidence at the scene indicated two different firearms were used in a shootout. The shots that tragically struck and killed Shakema and wounded her daughter were determined to have come from the other gunman's weapon.
With Solomon cleared, the focus of the investigation shifted. Law enforcement released images from surveillance footage showing another man, dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt and black pants, who was seen near the home around the time of the shooting. This man became the new person of interest. The search for Shakema's killer continued into the new year. Finally, on January 30, 2020, authorities made an arrest. U.S. Marshals and Bibb County deputies took 21-year-old Austin Sharrod Mason into custody at a residence on Pinedale Drive. After a brief foot chase, Mason was apprehended in a drainage culvert. He was subsequently charged with Malice Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Cruelty to Children in the First Degree in connection with the fatal shooting of Shakema Dickson and the wounding of her young daughter.
