Albany man sentenced for fatal 2023 Christmas shooting

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- An Albany man was sentenced on Thursday to over a decade in prison for the shooting that led to the death of Sky Lemmons-Dixon on Christmas Day in 2023. The Albany County District Attorney's Office said Patrick Dean, 38, shot Lemmons-Dixon in the head while inside a State Street apartment.

Dean pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with evidence, in turn receiving a sentence of 16 years and four months to 19 years in state prison. Lemmons-Dixon died at Albany Medical Center on January 1, 2024.

The DA's office said Dean was in his apartment with Lemmons-Dixon and two friends, Ibrahim Hammond, 40, and Michael Varlack, 37, when Lemmons-Dixon was shot. Dean was wielding a gun when it fired and struck Lemmons-Dixon.

Varlack pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and was sentenced to six years in prison in December 2024. Hammond pleaded guilty to first-degree perjury for his involvement in the shooting and faces a sentence of two years and four months to seven years in prison when he is sentenced on June 18.

During Dean's sentencing, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jessica Blain-Lewis read four victim impact statements from members of Lemmon-Dixon's family. Older sister Zoë Lemmons-Hall said she and Sky shared a special bond, and she was always there when life got tough.

“There aren’t enough words to accurately describe the impact of losing your baby sister,” she wrote. “Losing her has been an indescribable horror, and I’ll carry her absence with me for the rest of my life.”