On the night of Friday, September 26, 2025, 29-year-old Shawn Allen Sullivan, a white male who was experiencing homelessness, was fatally shot near the intersection of West Howe and South Morton streets in Bloomington, Indiana. Sullivan had been walking with two women when a dark-colored car reportedly sped up behind them; Sullivan is said to have thrown a bicycle at the vehicle. The driver, identified in police reports as 26-year-old Stephen Paul Dixon II of Bloomington, stopped, exited the car, yelled at Sullivan, and fired a single shot that struck Sullivan in the left side of his upper torso. Emergency crews transported Sullivan to IU Health Bloomington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:28 p.m.

Bloomington police investigators used witness statements and nearby gas station security footage to trace the vehicle, a dark-colored Volkswagen Passat, which they linked to another shooting on September 22. Public tips led officers to identify Dixon. On October 6, 2025, police located the Passat, observed Dixon and the vehicle’s registrant, 30-year-old Kaila Elizabeth Simms, and arrested both at a Bedford, Indiana, gas station; Dixon was in possession of a loaded handgun.

Many details about motive and the circumstances leading up to the encounter remain unanswered. Anyone who witnessed the shooting or knows Sullivan, the two women with him, or the vehicle is asked to share information with Bloomington police.