Crime & Safety

[Updated] Former Stamford Football Player Dies in Accidental Shooting

Police said the 22-year-old Stamford resident, who played football for West Point as well, didn't mean to shoot himself.

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Updated

"Crappy is a good way to put it," said Kevin Jones of JL Sports.

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Jones was Marcus Dixon's coach through his tenure at Stamford High School. A freshman at Westhill, Dixon joined Stamford High School's football team as a Sophomore.

Jones is reeling from the death of former football star following an accidental shooting Thursday night in which two of Dixon's friends witnessed the man place a gun to his head and pull the trigger. Police believe currently Dixon thought the gun was safe and are currently ruling the incident an accidental shooting.

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"He had this really unique way of flipping back and forth between cliques at school," Jones said. "Everyone was somehow his best friend.There are a lot of different kinds of people at Stamford High School. He was somehow friends with all of them."

Jones reflected on the adversity Dixon faced early on in life, overcoming a father who dumped him in the city of Stamford to fend for himself to finding a home with his adopted family, the McInerneys, and then joining football.His talent would take him far.

"Football came easy to him. You couldn't work him to hard and he'd never quit," Jones said. "He was transient, had no parents. He was abandoned. And he found out the field was a great equalizer. It was his vehicle that allowed him to work through a lot of that. You didn't have a background on the football field."

Jones said to watch what Dixon worked through and overcame be squandered on a moment of poor judgement is almost too much to admit is reality.

"I want to go to the hospital and have someone tell me this is going to be just fine," Jones said. "The finality of this situation is a tough pill to swallow. It's hard to put into words the disappoint of watching him overcome everything he's been through and have it end like this."

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At approximately 6 p.m. Thursday evening, a former Stamford High School sports star who went on to play at West Point died in a tragic accident while fooling around with a handgun, Capt. Richard Conklin said Friday.

Marcus Dixon, 22, who was homeless before being adopted by the McInerney family on Haviland Road at 15. He had just moved with a roommate two weeks prior to the residence in the 800 block of Stillwater Road where the tragedy occurred.

"This is a very tragic type of situation," Conklin said. "This is a very shocking type of situation."

Conklin said Dixon was sitting with two friends and messing around with the gun. He said the mood was described as light and everyone was laughing. Conklin believes Dixon was under the impression the handgun was rendered safe when the magazine was ejected.

"Many semiautomatic handguns are safe when the magazine is ejected," Conklin said, explaining the Magazine Disconnect Safety that will stop a handgun from firing if the magazine is ejected. "That is not so with a Glock. With one in the chamber, it will still fire."

At some point in the conversation, after ejecting the magazine, Dixon pointed the weapon at his own head and pulled the trigger.

"The type of wound sustained would have killed him instantly," Conklin said.

Conklin said in order for Dixon to have owned the handgun, for which he had a permit, he would have had to pass an NRA safety course. Conklin noted Dixon would have also received additional firearms training at West Point.

"It's an ongoing investigation, but right now we're leaning toward accidental shooting," he said.

Dixon was in possession of a Complete Health & Injury Prevention (C.H.I.P.) card, which is used to signify someone with an interest in Connecticut law enforcement has passed the physical portion of the hiring regiment.


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