LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — The echo of gunfire inside a residence on Johnson Road prompted police to the scene where a man was allegedly holding his family hostage.

Laurel Sheriff’s deputies and Kentucky State Police officers rushed to the residence on Ky. 472, nine miles east of London around 7 p.m. Monday where they discovered a male subject, identified as 41-year-old Donald Dixon, was holding his wife and two children inside the mobile home.

The officers — Deputy Kirk May, Deputy Steve Hoskins, Deputy John Blanton, Lieutenant Rodney Van Zant, Bailiff Shane Rice, KSP Trooper Justin Oliver, Trooper Nick Metcalf, and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer Rob Mitchell set up a safety perimeter and within a few minutes, Dixon allowed his wife to exit the mobile home. Soon after, the two children were allowed to leave the residence.

Officers then talked Dixon into surrendering himself, and he was taken into custody.

Though the press release from the Laurel Sheriff’s Office did not specify what initiated the hostage situation, Dixon had allegedly discharged a shotgun  inside the residence several times before officers arrived at the scene. After shooting the gun, he forced his wife and two children to exit the mobile home, fired several other times with the shotgun, then marched them back into the home just before the police officers arrived at the scene.

Dixon is now charged with two counts of fourth-degree assault, domestic violence, and first-degree wanton endangerment. Records from the Laurel County Detention Center indicate that Dixon was also charged with a failure to appear warrant, and no bond was allowed on that charge. He is currently held under $10,000 cash bond for the assault charge and is scheduled for an arraignment hearing today (Wednesday) in Laurel District Court on the assault and wanton endangerment charges. He is scheduled for a hearing on the failure to appear charge on Sept. 17.





njohnson@sentinel-echo.com