The suspect accused of firing 21 shots into a crowded Halloween party — killing one young man and paralyzing another — was being monitored closely by the state immediately before the shooting, officials said.
 
Devon Dixon, 22, of the 8000 block of Paul Martin Drive, in Elkridge, was released from prison on Aug. 11, less than three months before the Nov. 1 shooting, according to Phil Pie, the executive deputy director of the state’s division of parole and probation.
In the time between his release and shooting, Dixon’s parole agent met with him in person 24 times and spoke to him by telephone 17 times, according to Pie.
 
For the first two months after Dixon was released, the state placed a GPS monitoring device around his ankle to track his movements. It was removed after Dixon completed 60 days of following curfew hours without a single violation, Pie said.
 
“While the Division of Parole and Probation believes that even one offender under our supervision committing a murder is too many, I am not sure how much more closely we could have supervised this particular offender,” Pie wrote in a letter to the Howard County Times.
 
The shooting in the 11500 block of Manorstone Lane at a $1.6 million house where a Halloween party was in progress killed Aaron Brice, 19, of Silver Spring, and left Nathaniel Quick, 22, of Columbia, paralyzed.
 
Dixon, the accused gunman, had been released from prison early after serving a portion of a three-year sentence for illegal gun possession. His criminal record encompasses four separate convictions and three separate felony indictments.

County Executive Kenneth Ulman has said he asked his staff to examine all possible violations that occurred at the Manorstone Lane house — covering everything from lack of a rental license to underage alcohol consumption.

The party broke up at about 1:15 a.m., when police received calls from partygoers and neighbors reporting that shots had been fired. When police arrived, more than 100 people remained at the residence, which is near the Hobbit’s Glen Golf Club, in west Columbia, and appeared to have been rented out for the party, police said.

Police found Brice shot to death on the driveway, and Quick suffering from a gunshot wound in the basement. The killing was the county’s second homicide in 2009.

County officials are continuing to investigate the incident and police are doing follow-up interviews with partygoers, said Elizabeth Schroen, a Howard County police spokeswoman.
 
“They’re still looking into it,” Schroen said of investigators. “They’re still wading through a lot of information.”

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user comments (6)

user please says...

please.

Posted 8:48 PM, 11.10.09 | Permalink

user itsme says...

just goes to show once again the system failed. some way some how we need to keep these ppl in jail. ive gone thu this with my g-son who keeps hurting my daughter. the system keeps letting him off and still be able to live at home. my daughter is very ill and the courts keeps him there. I WANT TO NO WHY?? I FEEL FOR THE FAMILY LOST AND FOR THE MAN WHO IS IN A WHEEL CHAIR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

Posted 4:32 AM, 11.11.09 | Permalink

user cascade says...

So now this useless piece of trash will get free room and board in prison thanks to my tax dollars. Put him to work in hard labor to earn his meals.

Posted 10:09 AM, 11.11.09 | Permalink

user belovedcartoonmouse says...

Evidently he wasn't monitored closely enough.

Posted 7:24 PM, 11.12.09 | Permalink

user pericles says...

As your president says, do not rush to judgment! We may find out that the shooter shot two guys with rap sheets longer than his. As for the commenter who wants "to no why", your comments suggest an answer. Stop looking for government to solve your personal problems. It cannot.

Posted 5:59 PM, 11.14.09 | Permalink

user belovedcartoonmouse says...

Haha. Someone gets murdered and the only thing Howard County can do is see if there was underage drinking. Yeah, cause that caused the murder.

Posted 10:23 PM, 11.25.09 | Permalink