On a tragic afternoon in Washington, D.C., the life of 35-year-old female FBI Special Agent Martha Dixon Martinez was cut short in a violent attack. On November 22, 1994, a gunman entered the third-floor “cold case” squad room at the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters and opened fire with a TEC-9 assault weapon. Martinez was inside this office, along with two other FBI agents and a police sergeant, when the assailant began his rampage at approximately 3:30 p.m.
The attacker
was identified as Bennie Lee Lawson. In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, Special Agent Martinez, her colleague Special Agent Michael John Miller, and Police Sergeant Henry 'Hank' Daly were all fatally wounded. A third FBI special agent, John Kuchta, was also shot and seriously injured. Despite her own injuries, Martinez was able to return fire and wound Lawson before she succumbed to her wounds. After being wounded, Lawson took his own life.
The investigation into Lawson's motives revealed a desperate attempt to clear his name in the eyes of his fellow gang members. He had recently been questioned as a suspect in a triple homicide, and although he was cleared, he had been labeled a 'snitch.' Handwritten notes found at his home indicated that his intended targets were the commander of the police department's homicide squad and his investigators. Tragically, Lawson had entered the 'cold case' squad office by mistake. The weapon he used was later traced to a man in Kentucky who was illegally selling firearms to convicted criminals; that individual was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
