A PhD student at the University of Illinois Chicago, who works at the University of Notre Dame, was charged with murder Saturday in the death of her ex-boyfriend in Washington, D.C., according to police and court documents.
Nijinsky Latassia Dix, 37, of Jacksonville, Fla., was arrested and charged with second degree murder while armed, possession of unregistered ammunition and possession of an unregistered firearm, the Metropolitan Police Department stated in a news release.
At approximately 5:26 p.m. on Saturday evening, police officers responded to a shots fired call in the 1000 block of Fourth Street, Southwest, and entered an apartment where they found a male individual who had been shot.
The victim, Terry Hickman, 44, was pronounced dead.
According to court documents, when officers arrived at the apartment, they saw the defendant, identified as Dix, kneeling at the victim's feet with her right hand raised and her left hand between her legs. Officers noticed that the defendant was holding a handgun, and asked to her drop the weapon, at which point she complied, the documents stated.
While on scene, officers heard a voice and saw that a cell phone was connected to a call on speaker phone. Officers picked up the phone and talked to the person on the other line who identified herself as Dix's mother, the court documents stated.
"The individual stated the defendant called her and stated, 'He pushed me, and I shot him,'" the court filings continued.
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Dix was taken to the hospital where a doctor conducted a health assessment. Emergency medical staff reported she had an abrasion to her inside left lower lip, but the cause was unclear, according to the documents.
Following an exam, a doctor said the defendant reported back pain and that there was a period of time in which she "blacked out" and lost memory. The doctor advised she was unsure what would cause the defendant to lose memory.
The doctor informed detectives Dix didn't present with any physical signs of trauma and didn't indicate she had been assaulted, the court filings stated.
Police talked to multiple witnesses, one of whom who said they heard shots while outside the building, heard a woman scream "oh my God," and then saw a woman walking back and forth on a balcony.
The witness said the woman appeared to be holding a phone and gun, but that they didn't know weapons well and didn't want to "fully commit" to what the woman was holding.
Other witnesses told police they heard a woman say "help me" after multiple shots went off.
Another individual, who was familiar with Hickman, said she observed Dix with the victim in a parking garage prior to the shooting.
While processing the scene, evidence technicians found a gun that had a round in the chamber. The gun's magazine, according to court documents, contained several rounds of ammunition.
After being released from the hospital, Dix was taken to a police station where she again complained of memory loss. During an interview with detectives, Dix asked police for some sort of information that may jog her memory about what happened, the filings stated.
When shown a photograph of Hickman, Dix began crying and repeating "get it away from me."
At one point she then said, "you don't do people you love like that, that's not love, I don't want that, he can't do people like that, you don't do people you love like that. I'm sorry."
Detectives talked to an individual who said "the woman was stalking the decedent and that she was from out of state but somehow found out where he resided," according to the court filings.
That person said Dix and Hickman had a three-month long relationship that ended in May.
According to the University of Notre Dame, Dix is the director of the "Talent Search Upward Bound" program known as "TRIO."
In a statement, a university spokesman confirmed Dix is employed by Notre Dame and said the university "is aware of her arrest and will cooperate with law enforcement as appropriate."
