Suspects in fatal July 4 Macon shooting face murder, drive-by shooting charges
Two men face life in prison if convicted in a drive-by shooting that killed a Macon man on the Fourth of July last year, according to indictments filed Tuesday.
A Bibb County Superior Court grand jury charged Michael Burney and Dontavis Jackson with multiple murder and aggravated assault charges Tuesday, court records showed.
They were accused of shooting at a house on Sparkle Avenue on July 4, 2025, leading to the death of Contrel Dixon.
Both men also face one count of drive-by shooting, one count of criminal damage to property in the first degree and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to their indictment.
Burney and Jackson were initially indicted on six counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated battery on Sept. 30, 2025.
However, Dixon later died on Oct. 23, and both of the men’s aggravated assault charges were upped to murder.
Georgia law states that those convicted of murder face a mandatory-minimum term of life in prison.
Family was threatened before the fatal July 4 shooting
Targeted, gun-related incidents happened repeatedly at the Dixon family’s Sparkle Avenue home before Dixon’s death, according to incident reports.
The family’s house was shot at in March and again in May, hours after people who knew the family allegedly intimidated Dixon’s mom at a gas station, according to incident reports.
Deputies at the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office were unable to identify suspects in the case because witnesses and victims were not cooperating with the investigation, Maj. Jason Batchelor, head of the sheriff’s office’s criminal investigations division, said in December.
“Our investigation determined that there was an established gang nexus surrounding the individuals involved and a history of retaliatory violence between the two groups,” according to Batchelor. “These dynamics significantly complicate investigations.”
However, Dixon’s family denied that he had any gang involvement.
“Some man told me it’s his fault he had got shot,” Contrella Dixon, the victim’s twin sister, said in a balloon release ceremony in November. “He was literally in his own home … I just feel like they try to paint all Black men to be thugs.”
