Starcey L. Chat, a 36-year-old White man, was shot and killed by his own nephew in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Friday, April 23, 2021. His death was the second of two homicides his relative would commit that day in a violent, paranoid episode that unfolded across two neighborhoods on the city’s North Side. The case was part of a record-breaking year for homicides in Milwaukee, a city grappling with a surge in gun violence.
The tragic day began when 19-year-old Mharquelle Q. Dixon shot and killed 20-year-old Keandre Scott and seriously injured a 21-year-old woman. That shooting occurred around 4:45 p.m. near 24th Street and Ash Street. According to a witness, Dixon was talking with Scott inside a car that was being worked on. The conversation did not seem heated, but Dixon suddenly opened fire. He then chased the female victim as she fled the car, shooting and wounding her.
Shortly after this first attack, Dixon was seen running from the area. He soon connected with his uncle, Starcey Chat. Dixon later told Milwaukee police investigators that he was suffering from severe distress and believed his family was plotting to kill him. While he and Chat were together in a car, Dixon claimed his uncle reached for something under the seat. Believing his life was in danger, Dixon pulled out a gun and shot Chat in the head and chest.
After killing his uncle, Dixon fled the vehicle, leaving Chat’s body in the driver's seat on the 2600 block of North 24th Place, near Clarke Street, less than half a mile from the first shooting. The car remained parked on the street for hours, with a witness telling police they had noticed it but assumed the man inside was merely sleeping. It was not until around 11:20 p.m. that a passerby discovered Chat was deceased and alerted the authorities.
The investigation by the Milwaukee Police Department moved quickly. About a minute after the first homicide at 24th and Ash, officers were called to a grocery store a block away for a report of a person with a gun. There, they found Mharquelle Dixon, who surrendered without incident. While being arrested, Dixon told officers he had been in a shootout over "family stuff" and told store workers he thought his family was trying to kill him.
In a later statement to detectives, Dixon confessed to both killings. He explained his paranoia, stating that when his uncle, Starcey Chat, reached under the car seat, he "felt he had to" shoot him, though he claimed he did not want to hurt him. Dixon was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree reckless homicide, among other charges.
In August 2022, Mharquelle Dixon pleaded guilty to the two homicide counts as part of a plea agreement, and other charges were dismissed. In December 2022, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison, to be followed by 25 years of extended supervision. The resolution of the case brought a legal conclusion to a day of senseless violence that took the lives of two men and left a community shaken. As of December 2022, the case against Dixon is closed.
