A soldier was found shot to death, and now a fellow soldier is charged with murder in North Carolina, officials said.
Brandon Allen Amos-Dixon, who was stationed at the Fort Bragg military base, is also accused of trying to kill his fiancee and her child the same day the soldier’s body was found in January.
Now, about two months after Amos-Dixon was suspected of attempted murder, he faces an additional first-degree murder charge. The Hoke County Sheriff’s Office didn’t list attorney information for him in a March 20 news release.
The case dates to Jan. 18, when deputies were called to Hammock Lane in the Raeford area. At the scene, first responders reported finding an unresponsive 24-year-old man who couldn’t be saved.
The deceased man was identified as Staff Sgt. Jimmy Lee Smith III, a Fort Bragg soldier who had been in the military since 2016. He served as a “culinary specialist in the 3rd Special Forces Group’s Support Battalion,” The Fayetteville Observer reported.
Smith was from Fayetteville, roughly 60 miles south of Raleigh. He was known as a sports lover who enjoyed music and traveling, according to an obituary on the H.D. Pope Funeral Home website.
But Smith’s life was cut short when deputies said he was shot and killed. The sheriff’s office in its news release didn’t list a motive.
Amos-Dixon, the man accused in his death, was 25 and serving in the U.S. Army at the time. He was an “active-duty culinary specialist with the rank of staff sergeant and was assigned to the Special Operations Command on Fort Bragg,” military officials told The Fayetteville Observer.
Earlier the night of the homicide, the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office told WNCN it found a woman and her child in a restaurant bathroom. The woman reported that the two were in a vehicle when her fiance, Amos-Dixon, fired several rounds into it, striking them.
The woman was taken to a hospital after the shooting, which left her child with “superficial injuries,” officials said.
The next day, deputies said Amos-Dixon was taken into custody in Bastian, Virginia, after a pursuit that lasted hours. At the time, Harnett County officials announced a warrant for two counts of attempted murder, 10 counts of “shooting into an occupied vehicle” and two counts of “assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.”
Now, Amos-Dixon is charged with first-degree murder in Smith’s death, according to deputies.
Officials said the investigations into the two shootings were ongoing. In the Hoke County case, anyone with information is asked to call deputies at 910-875-5111 or a tip line at 910-878-1100. People also can visit hokecountysheriff.org or use the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office mobile application to share details.
Fort Bragg didn’t immediately share additional information with McClatchy News on March 21.
This story was originally published March 21, 2023 8:37 AM.