Arrest in shocking murder: Kids hid under bed as man shot father, Tallahassee police say
A stranger who allegedly burst into an apartment where children were home alone Friday was arrested for shooting and killing their father after he returned to confront the intruder.
Solomon Sadiq, 22, was arrested Tuesday on murder and other charges in the death of Dione Fowler, who resided at University Courtyard Apartments, 3025 S. Adams St. He is being held in the Leon County Detention Facility.
The fatal shooting ― which was captured on a dramatic 911 call that police say Sadiq made himself — was shocking even for a city that has grappled with persistent gun violence. It was at least the 43rd serious shooting in the capital city and county this year, according to a Tallahassee Democrat analysis of gun violence. At least 33 have been injured and nine people killed so far this year.
It happened just before midnight Friday after Fowler and his wife left their children in the apartment to make a quick trip to a nearby convenience store.
Their 10-year-old daughter answered a knock on the door thinking it was her parents when Sadiq, a licensed security guard who didn't know the family, walked inside. He demanded that someone give him a cellphone charger and claimed that someone had been shooting at him.
Frightened, the girl hid under a bed with her two siblings and called her parents, who raced home. When they got back, Fowler began checking bedrooms at one end of the apartment while his wife checked the master bedroom, where they had left the kids watching TV. But the door was locked.
Fowler's wife, who assumed her kids had locked themselves inside, ran to call 911 from a neighbor's home. After Sadiq slipped out of the master bedroom, he shot Fowler in a hallway, according to the arrest report.
In the moments before the parents returned home, investigators said Sadiq called 911 to report an incident at the apartment complex.
“The caller did not identify himself during the 911 call and initially spoke quietly into the handset,” the arrest report says. “Children were clearly heard screaming in the background. A female child is heard screaming ‘Get out!’ repeatedly.”
One minute and 22 seconds into the call, a single gunshot can be heard on the 911 recording. After that, Fowler can be heard screaming in pain and saying, “Oh my God!” The 911 call-taker asked what had happened. Sadiq reportedly said: “Yo, they shooting! Almost died, bro.” The call disconnected soon after.
Sadiq, shirtless and "sweating profusely," breezed past Fowler's wife as he was fleeing the apartment and she was running upstairs toward the sound of gunfire, according to court records. "They are shooting up there," he told her. She later told officers he appeared to possibly be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Investigators were able to identify Sadiq as a suspect based on witness interviews and surveillance video of businesses along his alleged escape route.
He agreed to an interview at police headquarters, eventually admitting to shooting Fowler. He claimed at first it was accidental and said he was “too quick to shoot.”
“Sadiq made no claims that the victim had been armed or that the victim assaulted him,” the arrest report says. “He would not provide any credible explanation as to why he entered the apartment and remained there while the children were screaming for him to leave. He did acknowledge that the children may have been put in fear by his presence there.”
Investigators said Sadiq was in the apartment for at least three to four minutes and made no effort to flee.
"He did not attempt to harm the children," the report says. "It did not appear that he searched through the residence for items of value, and nothing was taken. A search of the apartment and the victim's car yielded no evidence of narcotics use or firearm ownership."
Sadiq was a security guard whose license did not allow him to carry a firearm. He had been hired about a week before the shooting as security at an apartment complex in the 2800 block of South Adams Street.
Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahasee.com. Follow her on Twitter @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Shocking murder in Tallahassee: Kids hid under bed as father was shot
