Man who accused football player dies from July wounds

Dwight Dixon, who last year accused former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison of shooting him after a fistfight, died Friday at Hahnemann University Hospital of gunshot wounds received in an incident this summer.

Dixon, 33, of West Philadelphia, was shot multiple times July 21 as he sat in the driver's seat of a car in the Fairmount section.

Police said an unknown gunman approached Dixon on the 2800 block of Girard Avenue about 11 a.m. and peppered him with bullets from both sides of the car.

Dixon had claimed that Harrison shot him, wounding one of his hands, during an altercation on April 29, 2008, outside a garage and car wash owned by Harrison at 25th and Thompson Streets in North Philadelphia.

District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham declined to press charges against Harrison and ended her office's criminal probe of the incident Jan. 6, citing "multiple, mutually exclusive, and inherently untrustworthy and false statements" from witnesses.

Later that month, a Philadelphia judge convicted Dixon of lying when he first told police after the shooting that he had been robbed and fired on by street thugs in West Philadelphia.

Harrison, who grew up in Philadelphia, starred in football at Roman Catholic High School, and owns businesses in the city, has denied any involvement with the shooting. Abraham said shell casings found at the scene came from Harrison's unusual Belgian-made 5.7mm pistol.

Last September, Dixon - whose criminal record listed five aliases and included arrests for stealing, drugs, and firearms possession - filed a civil suit against Harrison, who was released by the Colts this February. The suit, which sought more than $100,000 in damages, contended that Dixon sustained "serious and permanent injuries."