Morgan Dixon, a 26-year-old Black woman from Newark, Delaware, was driving through Wilmington's Riverside neighborhood on the afternoon of May 23, 2018, when gunfire erupted around her. Shortly before 4:30 p.m., shots rang out near East 29th and Bowers streets, followed by another burst after a brief pause as the violence moved toward North Claymont Street.
Dixon was struck in the torso while behind the wheel in the area of the 2700 and 2800 blocks of North Claymont Street.
After she was wounded, Dixon's vehicle continued moving before crashing into a house or other structure along North Claymont Street. Wilmington police officers responding to reports of shots fired found her unresponsive in the driver's seat. New Castle County paramedics treated her at the scene and transported her to Christiana Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Investigators recovered spent shell casings from East 29th Street and examined the surrounding blocks to determine where the gunfire began and whether the shooters had been moving through the neighborhood. Witnesses described hearing rapid, repeated volleys of shots. Police later said they did not believe Dixon was the intended target, suggesting that she was caught in gunfire directed at someone else.
Dixon's death stunned those who had seen her only minutes earlier. A friend recalled joking and laughing with her shortly before receiving word that she had first been reported as being involved in a crash and then learning that she had actually been shot. Friends described her as independent, ambitious and determined. She operated a hair-extension business known as Barbie Extensions and was remembered as a developing entrepreneur whose life and career were beginning to gain momentum.
Police appealed to witnesses and anyone with information to contact investigators or Delaware Crime Stoppers. Initial reports stated that no suspects had been apprehended, and no individual was publicly identified as the shooter. Available reporting does not document a later arrest, criminal charge, trial or conviction connected to Dixon's killing. The identity of the person or people who fired the shots, their intended target and the motive for the attack have not been publicly established.
