Family Mourns Promising Life Ended by a Gun

Gregory Dixon believes he and his young family cannot live in South Los Angeles for too long after he buries his beloved younger brother today.

“I have to move my family from here just to start over,” said Dixon, who was shot in the legs when his brother Burley Dixon Jr. was killed last week in what police consider a random attack outside the family home on West 85th Street. “I have no doubt about what I have to do,” he said.

Dixon and other relatives and friends said Burley, 31, was a warm, loving man who always tried to do some good. He sought out community improvement projects, was active at Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, was a computer whiz and always wanted to do more with his life, including studies at Howard University in Washington, they said.

In addition, Dixon said, the two of them had started a trucking business and had big plans about what it could mean for the family. With the memory still fresh of his brother gasping for air after being shot, Dixon said it’s best for him, his wife and five daughters to get away from the area, though exactly where remains undetermined.

The brothers, described by police as “absolutely solid citizens,” were standing on the front lawn of the family home chatting while waiting for the mail to be delivered when the shooting occurred, according to officials and relatives. The killer walked within about 30 feet and started shooting, they said.

Burley, known to many as Junior, was struck more than six times, said Police Det. Rudy Lemos, and died an hour later at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

This week, police arrested David Jere Cummings, 25, of Hollywood and Wendy Lachelle Callandret, 19, of South Los Angeles. A warrant was issued for a third suspect, Lemos said.

Cummings and Callandret were charged with murder and attempted murder, and Cummings was charged with escape by force or violence and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the district attorney’s office.

Dixon, 36, a railroad supervisor, said those who loved his brother are focused on remembering the many good experiences, rather than the shooting. “The sooner we can do that, the better off we will be,” Dixon said.

Burley, the youngest of five siblings, had his leg amputated above the knee because of vascular disease when he was 11 and had interrupted his studies one semester before graduating from Howard to return home for a new prosthetic limb, relatives said.

The family spent the last year saving money for health insurance to cover the cost of a new $40,000 prosthesis, his older sister Virginia Underwood said.

“He was not one to sit still,” she said, adding that he designed Web pages and had recently received his contractor’s license. “I just want everyone to know what a terrific man, what a terrific friend, and what a terrific son [Burley] was. He was a light in our family and our bright light is gone.”

Pastor Solomon L. Drake of Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church spoke of Burley’s involvement in youth ministry, the choir and Bible studies. He “was a blessing to the church, he was a man of great promise,” Drake said. “He had great determination to make something of his life. He was a great example to the youth. He was a fine young man. This is a great tragedy.”