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Charges: Marcus Dixon Punched Ex-Girlfriend's Grandma In Mouth, Hit Grandpa With Garden Spade

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A St. Paul teenager is facing assault charges for his role in brawl last week where he allegedly punched his ex-girlfriend's grandmother in the mouth and hit her grandfather over the head with a metal garden spade.

Marcus Dixon1
(credit: Ramsey County)

Marcus Dixon, 18, is charged with one count of second-degree assault stemming from the afternoon melee on March 27, court documents filed in Ramsey County show.

According to a criminal complaint, a neighbor called 911 after seeing a group of young people beating up an elderly man and an elderly woman who live on Conway Street in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.

Responding officers found the elderly man and elderly woman, ages 75 and 76 respectively, with injuries. Emergency crews brought them to Regions Hospital for treatment. The extent of their injuries was not specified.

Investigators learned that the fight broke out after Dixon's two girlfriends got in an argument with his ex-girlfriend at her home, where she lives with her grandparents. When the ex-girlfriend refused to speak to them, the grandmother tried to get the two girls to leave.

Because they refused to leave the doorway, the grandmother nudged one of the girls so she could shut the front door, the complaint states. That's when Dixon got involved.

The 18-year-old, who had been waiting in a van with two other male youths, ran up to the grandmother and punched her in the mouth, knocking her over.

His ex-girlfriend then ran downstairs and attacked Dixon's two girlfriends. The fight spilled outside, with the ex-girlfriend's grandfather running to aid his granddaughter.

While the grandfather was engaged with one of Dixon's male friends, Dixon allegedly struck the 75-year-old over the head with a metal garden spade, knocking him down. Investigators say that during the fall the grandfather hit his forehead on the cement sidewalk.

Dixon and his friends fled the scene in a van. Police recovered a broken garden spade at the scene, and noted the area was marked with blood.

Over the weekend, police arrested Dixon after he tried to retrieve his phone from a stranger's car that he'd been tampering with. He matched the description the 911 caller gave of one of the attackers.

In an interview with police, Dixon said that he only started fighting that day because "everyone" was punching one of his girlfriends, the complaint states. He denied hitting his ex-girlfriend's grandfather with a garden spade.

If convicted of the assault charge, Dixon faces a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison and/or a $14,000 fine.

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