In the early morning hours of March 21, 2019, 32-year-old Cliff Dixon arrived at the SL Lounge on Buford Highway in the Atlanta suburb of Chamblee to celebrate his birthday. Shortly after his arrival, at approximately 1:17 a.m., a lone gunman shot him multiple times in the parking lot. First responders administered aid at the scene before he was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Dixon, a former college basketball player, was widely known as the 'adopted brother' of NBA star Kevin Durant, whose mother had taken him in when he was 16 years old.
The shooter, described as a Black male wearing all black and a black skull cap, fled the scene on foot immediately after the shooting. An officer who was in his patrol unit outside the club witnessed the suspect open fire and then run. In the months following the shooting, Chamblee police released surveillance footage that captured the suspected shooter in the parking lot, appearing to wait for Dixon to arrive. The video shows the assailant approaching Dixon shortly after he exited his vehicle before the fatal shots were fired.
Despite the release of the surveillance video and an active investigation, no arrests have been made in connection with the murder of Cliff Dixon. The motive for the shooting remains unclear, and authorities have not publicly identified any suspects. The investigation has been hampered by the fact that many of the security cameras at the Little Saigon strip mall where the nightclub was located were not operational. The case remains an open and ongoing homicide investigation.
