PLATTE CITY, Mo. – A Kansas man who belongs to a criminal street gang has been sentenced for shooting into a Platte County apartment.
Dewey Dixon, 32, of Shawnee, was sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, property damage and possession of marijuana.
Prosecutors say Dixon was seeking revenge on behalf of a fellow gang member when he fired shots into an apartment in the 6300-block of Hogan Drive in September 2008. When deputies arrested Dixon, he was armed with brass knuckles and a concealed blackjack. He also had a homemade pipe and marijuana in his possession.
Dixon told investigators he fired into the apartment in response to an altercation between another member of his gang and two other men. When Dixon was informed he had shot into a vacant unit, he said he had gotten the wrong apartment.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “This man fired a Mac-10 semiautomatic machine gun into an apartment in an act of gang revenge. That is bad enough by itself. But to make matters worse, the defendant fired at the wrong apartment and could have killed someone who had absolutely nothing to do with his gang dispute.”
Dixon also admitted to “tagging” the door of the apartment door where the two men lived by writing the name of his gang on it in an unknown red substance.
Dixon was charged with breaking a law specially written to fight certain acts of gang violence. Under that law, Dixon received a mandatory 15-year sentence.
Zahnd said, “We don’t have an overwhelming gang problem in Platte County, and we intend to keep it that way. Gang members who come to Platte County intending to do harm should know that they will be met by the full force of the law.”
