Grieving family honors victim’s kindness amid racial stigma after Macon shooting

A 24-year-old Macon woman said she still waits every day for a phone call from her twin brother that she’ll never get again, after he was killed in a Macon shooting.

Contrel Dixon, the father of a 1-year-old son, was at home when he was shot on July 4 in east Macon, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said. Five surgeries, three months of recovery and 12 hours of hospice later, he died on Oct. 23, according to Contrella Dixon, his twin sister; and Demetria Dixon, their mother.

“It really hits me late at night or early in the morning because I’m looking for a phone call and I know that it’s not coming through,” Contrella Dixon said. “I don’t have those conversations anymore.”

These days, she talks to a photo of him in her bedroom.

“Today getting dressed, I took time and I’m just talking to him like, ‘I’m doing this for you. I’m going out here for you,’” Contrella Dixon told The Telegraph after releasing balloons in memory of him Friday at Rosa Jackson Recreation Center.

Grieving has been especially tough as the mother of a 2-month-old baby, she said. She tries not to let her daughter see her sadness.

“She depends on me, so I don’t feel like I really have the time to mope around like I want to,” Contrella Dixon said. “Anytime I’m just by myself when she’s sleeping, I talk, I cry, sometimes I go out and scream.”

Contrella Dixon said she was at the home when her brother was shot, and sometimes her brother’s death “plays back in my head.”

After witnessing a shooting, the American Psychological Association recommends to “give yourself time to experience your feelings and to recover.” Other healthy coping skills include talking about it and taking breaks.

Family wants victim to be remembered positively

Contrel Dixon was remembered as a positive and kind gentleman, according to Shaquinta Card, his youngest sister.

She and Contrella Dixon said misinformation was spread about his character and involvement in the shooting.

“My brother was not a street person, nor was he a gang member,” Card said.

Sgt. Christopher Williams told The Telegraph Tuesday that the shooting and the suspects were not gang-related, but the sheriff’s office’s Gang Unit helped arrest two people allegedly related to the incident, according to a news release on July 10.

Contrella Dixon said racial stereotypes from the public followed.

“Some man told me it’s his fault he had got shot,” Contrella Dixon said. “He was literally in his own home … I just feel like they try to paint all Black men to be thugs.”

Contrel Dixon has no documented criminal history in Bibb County, according to court records reviewed by The Telegraph.

“A Black man can’t” feel safe in Macon, she told The Telegraph. “You’re not protected where you are supposed to feel protected.”

In 2024, most victims of violent crime in Macon were Black, and most shootings occurred in areas where people lived in poverty, according to an analysis of homicides by The Telegraph.

Macon-Bibb County District 3 Commissioner Stanley Stewart, who represents east Macon where Contrel Dixon was killed, spoke at the balloon release. He felt people have become desensitized to local shootings.

“A lot of times we see this happen on television and we don’t put the faces and the hearts behind it …,” Stewart said. “We’re in the middle of truly an epidemic.”

Card echoed his sentiment, and said her brother’s death pushed her to advocate against violence.

“To some, maybe he was just another random unfortunate person, but to me and all my siblings, he was our brother, and we will say his name,” Card told loved ones at the balloon release. “No justice, no peace.”

Suspects charged

Two people were charged with murder in connection to Contrel Dixon’s death.

Michael Winston Burney, 24, and Dontavius Anquan Jackson initially faced aggravated assault charges, which were upped to felony murder after Contrel Dixon died.

Burney was released from jail before he faced murder charges, then was rearrested Monday, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said. Jackson was never released and is still incarcerated.

This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 6:00 AM.