Man arrested for shooting death in East Austin in March

A suspected killer is off the streets of Austin, one month after a bizarre car crash that turned into a homicide investigation.

44-year-old Dedric Darnell Dixon was arrested Wednesday on murder charges for the death of 43-year-old Carlos Swist. “Detectives learned that the confrontation stemmed over Mr. Swist dropping some money, and the unidentified male picking that money up,” said Lt. Justin Newsom of the Austin Police Department. Lt. Newsom said that unidentified man was Dixon.

Early in the morning on March 1st, Dixon and Swist were at the Conoco Station on East Martin Luther King Blvd. Swist apparently dropped some money and Dixon picked it up, causing the men to fight. Detectives said surveillance video caught what happened next “A video was located in which the subject was seen, the victim was seen driving by at 6:51 a.m., directly behind him was that same SUV owned by Mr. Dixon. Approximately five minutes later is when the crash and fire was reported, which led to us finding Mr. Swist,” Lt. Newsom said.

An autopsy was performed and it was found Swist died from a gunshot wound to the head, which caused him to crash his van. Newsom said Dixon had been involved in another incident at that very same gas station in December of 2014. According to an arrest affidavit he stabbed someone in the head, shoulder and back and was out on bond. “Mr. Dixon was found at the time to have a warrant for terroristic threat from the previous incident at the Conoco store, he was arrested for that and his vehicle was impounded and a search warrant was obtained to search the vehicle,” he said.

Lt. Newsom said ammunition was found in Dixon's vehicle that matched that same lot of the bullets used to shoot Swist. ”Based on all of these facts, a warrant was issued for Mr. Dixons arrest for murder.”

Swist's family said they are still too upset to talk, but they are relieved someone has been arrested. They also said his 6-year-old daughter he left behind says she misses her daddy and makes a wish every day for him to come back.              

Dixon is behind bars at the Travis County Jail, with bond set at $500,000.

Read Man charged with murder in connection to fiery crash

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