- Baltimore prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have arrested Dion Thompson on suspicion of killing an off-duty Washington, D.C., police sergeant in 2017.
- Thompson, who was 18 at the time, allegedly shot Sgt. Tony Anthony Mason Jr. died while sitting in a parked car with the woman he was dating.
- The case remained unsolved until a tip received early last year pointed authorities to Mr. Thompson.
Baltimore prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have arrested a man in the cold case of the 2017 killing of an off-duty police officer in Washington, D.C.
Officer, Sgt. Police said Tony Anthony Mason Jr. was sitting in a parked car with a woman he was dating when he was shot. She was also shot, but she survived.
The case remained unsolved for five years until detectives reopened the investigation in early 2023 and received information that led to the indictment of Dion Thompson, 24, prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday. Stated. Thompson, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, is currently serving a federal prison sentence on unrelated drug and gun charges.
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An attorney representing Thompson in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Washington DC skyline including the US Capitol, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial. and the National Mall, seen from above, January 29, 2010. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
His charging documents in the 2017 shooting offer no clear motive and are based almost entirely on testimony from people who knew Thompson but did not directly witness the crime. According to the source, Thompson was leaving his friend’s grandmother’s house when he spotted a car he didn’t recognize and became paranoid that he was there for a robbery or revenge. He admitted to firing at the car. all the robberies he was committing,” the indictment states.
Witnesses told detectives that Thompson later learned from watching the news that the victim was an off-duty police officer. Prosecutors allege Thompson then drove to Philadelphia to dispose of the car he was driving the night of the shooting.
Charging documents mention two other people allegedly involved in the shooting. One person later died in a car accident. Officials said no one has yet been charged in the incident.
Mr. Mason, 40, was a 17-year veteran of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
Detectives noted that during the attack, he was unarmed and was not wearing clothing that identified him as a law enforcement officer. They said extensive background checks on both Mason and his associates found no signs of criminality or gang activity.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pamela Smith said: “For too long, the details surrounding Sergeant Mason’s tragic death remained a painful mystery.” “While we cannot erase the pain of loss or the memory of that day, we can take solace in the fact that those responsible are being brought to justice.”
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Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said this is the first prosecution by his office’s new cold case unit.
