Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of potentially triggering situations, such as gun violence and death.
The Bloomington Police Department arrested a suspect in connection with the murder of Shawn Sullivan, 29, who was shot and killed Sept. 26 near West Howe and South Morton Streets.
Stephen Dixon II, 26, was arrested on murder charges Monday in Bedford, Indiana. After taking Dixon to the station, BPD officers also charged him with criminal recklessness related to an incident Sept. 22 when Dixon allegedly fired a gun at a trailer home in Bloomington from his car.
Dixon was charged with murder, a felony, criminal recklessness, a level five felony, and two counts of unlawful carrying of a handgun with prior conviction, also a level five felony.
Witnesses said Sullivan was walking down Howe Street with two women around 9:40 p.m. Sept. 26 when Dixon “sped up” behind him in a dark-colored car, according to a Tuesday news release from BPD.
Sullivan then allegedly threw a bicycle at Dixon’s car. Witnesses said Dixon exited the vehicle with a gun in hand and fired once into Sullivan’s left side, then got back in the car and drove away.
BPD investigators later canvassed the area and reviewed footage from a gas station at the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and Rogers Street. According to the news release, the footage showed a man, who matched witnesses’ description of Dixon, and a woman getting out of a dark-colored Volkswagen Passat around 9:30 p.m. Sept. 26, shortly before the shooting.
They headed southbound down Rogers Street minutes later, according to the release, in the direction of where the shooting occurred.
Investigators matched the type of car with one involved in an unrelated incident Sept. 22, where an unknown person shot at a trailer home on the 1600 block of North Willis Drive from a car. BPD began to survey the car Oct. 6, following it from Bloomington to Bedford.
The car was registered to a 30-year-old woman who was arrested Oct. 6 alongside Dixon and charged with neglect of a dependent. Dixon was armed with a loaded 9mm Hi-Point handgun at the time of his arrest.
Both Dixon and the woman are currently in custody at the Monroe County Jail.
This story may be updated with more information.
