Date October 16, 2002 Deaths 7 Weapons Firebomb | Target Dawson family Name Dawson case | |
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Perpetrator Darrell L. Brooks Motive Retaliation for Angela Dawson reporting crime to police Similar Aramoana massacre, Hinterkaifeck murders, Bain family murders | ||
The Dawson family, a family of seven (parents Carnell and Angela, and five children), were all murdered in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, on October 16, 2002. After Angela had repeatedly alerted police to drug dealing, assault, and other crime in her East Baltimore neighborhood of Oliver, the entire family died after their home was firebombed. A neighbor, Darrell L. Brooks — once a page in the Baltimore City Council chamber — pleaded guilty to the crimes and was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. At the time of the attack, Brooks was on probation but had been left unsupervised.
The Dawson family murder
After repeated vandalism of their home, the Dawsons survived a first arson attempt on October 3, 2002, only to succumb to the second. The outcry over the magnitude of the crime was only matched by the frustration expressed by many residents who simply could not believe that city officials, who were aware of the escalating violence, had been unable to protect the family. City officials defended their actions, saying an offer to relocate the family was refused.
The incident highlighted the inadequacies in efforts to motivate Baltimore residents to confront drug trafficking and the city's failure to safeguard individuals who chose to take a stand. In 2005, family members of the Dawson family initiated legal action against the city, state, and several agencies, claiming that the "Believe Campaign" initiated in 2002, which urged the community to report drug dealers, did not have adequate support systems in place to protect those who provided information. This lawsuit was eventually dismissed, a decision that was affirmed upon appeal to the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Numerous efforts to reclaim and rebuild Oliver in the name of the Dawson family have been undertaken by politicians, activists and ordinary citizens. Mayor (and later Governor of Maryland) Martin O'Malley, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, State Senator Nathaniel McFadden and the action group known as Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) have worked in individual and collective ways to ensure the Dawson family a lasting public memory. The house where the Dawsons died reopened in April 2007 as the Dawson Safe Haven Community Center.