Businesswoman killed in Wilmington day before she was set to leave on weekend trip

Morgan Dixon was supposed to be traveling to Texas on Thursday for an adventure with her girlfriends. 

Instead, a shower of bullets Wednesday afternoon in Wilmington's Riverside neighborhood ended that trip and her life. 

"It's just tragic," said the Rev. Derrick Johnson, who is the pastor of Wilmington's Joshua Harvest Church, which Dixon attended for about 10 years. "She was definitely a victim of being — that cliché — at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Dixon, who lived in Sparrow Run near Bear, was fatally shot about 4 p.m. Wednesday while in the city's Riverside neighborhood. Officers responding to the scene in the 2800 block of Clayton St. found the 26-year-old woman unresponsive in the driver seat of the vehicle, suffering from a gunshot wound to her torso.

Police did not give further details. 

She was taken to Christiana Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

A makeshift memorial could be seen Thursday near where she was shot. Her car slammed into a building after Dixon was hit. 

"I didn't know that car was there until I heard that big boom," said 71-year-old Ellen Johnson, who was jarred from her sleep Wednesday by gunfire moments before the car struck her Riverside home. "I thought it was a bomb. That's how loud it was."

Ellen Johnson said she saw a lot of commotion outside her house so she wandered out. A man was pointing to something on the side of her house, which she went to look at. 

That's when she saw the car had crashed into her house. 

Ellen Johnson saw the woman in the car but did not know her.  

"At first I didn't see her. Then I saw her face," she said. "I didn't see any motions or anything."

Ellen Johnson said someone picked up a cinder block and used it to smash the car window and try to get Dixon out of the car. 

"I'm very concerned," said Ellen Johnson, who said that she called a Wilmington Housing Authority supervisor and told him, "Get me out of here."

"That was too much for me. I can't take it anymore. I've got to go."

Derrick Johnson, who is speaking on behalf of Dixon's family, said the woman owned Barbie Extensions, an online hair products retailer. He added that in addition to having a supplier near Riverside, she had a lot of customers in the community. 

"She had a relationship with people in the community, particularly young girls who wanted to be like her," he said. 

Dixon was an entrepreneur, who, while eager to grow her business was also willing to help younger women and girls, Derrick Johnson said. 

She was also a spiritual person, who often went to church alone. 

"She would always come to the altar and pray by herself," he said. "A very pleasant person."

Dixon had moved to Atlanta to try to expand on her business, but when her aunt, Delicia Delcine Dixon, died in September 2013, she returned to Delaware.

She then lost her mother, Detreona D. Dixon, in 2014 and her younger sister, Sydney Dixon, in 2017.

"She was very close to all," said Cheris Monique, a close friend of Dixon. "Her aunt, her mom and her little sister, who she was like her protector."

Although young, Dixon became inspirational to a lot of area girls, motivating them to pursue their dreams. 

"She was definitely an inspiration to young and old people," said Monique, adding that she remained in shock at her friend being killed. "This was something that was not supposed to happen to a sweet soul like her.

"She is a very, very, very sweet girl. No ill intent. She just wanted to be happy and live her life."

Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333 or delawarecrimestoppers.org.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.