On a tragic spring evening in 2011, the life of 33-year-old Shawnta Lysheema Coleman was cut short in a devastating act of violence. On Thursday, April 7, 2011, Coleman, a female resident of Alexandria, Virginia, was found shot to death in Bladensburg, Maryland. Her body was discovered in the rear of an apartment complex located in the 5600 block of Emerson Street.
The initial investigation was handled by the Prince George's County Police.
Adding to the heartbreak of the scene, an infant was found unharmed in a car seat near Coleman's body. The baby was safely turned over to the care of social service workers. In the immediate aftermath of the discovery, law enforcement officials had no information regarding a possible suspect or motive for the shooting.
Years later, the profound impact of this unsolved crime would ripple through the family once more. In 2018, Shawnta Coleman's son, Dante Coleman, who was a teenager at the time of his mother's death, was himself fatally shot. Reports on his death revisited the tragic circumstances of his mother's murder, noting that the killer in her case had never been found. The case of who was responsible for the death of Shawnta Lysheema Coleman remains unresolved.
