Clyde Coleman, 24, a Black man, was found dead on September 14, 2020, behind a property on the 3100 block of Highland Avenue in Niagara Falls, New York, a place neighbors and officials commonly called the “Red House.” The discovery came in the afternoon, around 2:30 p.m., and investigators said Coleman had been killed by a gunshot wound, turning the scene into a homicide investigation as officers secured the backyard and began tracing where the final moments began and ended.
In the days that followed, the address itself became part of the story. Residents and police described the house as a magnet for trouble, with reports of repeated violence in the surrounding weeks and talk in the neighborhood that late-night gatherings were being hosted there like a makeshift, unlicensed party spot. One relative, speaking publicly, said Coleman may have been there for roughly a day before being discovered, a detail that deepened the anger and disbelief rippling through the area.
City leaders moved quickly on what they could control: the building. Inspectors condemned the home after citing a list of serious conditions, including missing or inadequate safety equipment and other hazards that officials said made the property unfit. Reporting on the property records identified the owner as James Mallory Jr., and officials said the city’s authority was limited by the home’s status as a private residence, even as they signaled that other investigative avenues were being explored.
What did not come, at least in the public record at the time, was the kind of break families pray for. Authorities said no arrests had been made in connection with Coleman’s killing. Weeks later, as Niagara Falls wrestled with a surge of violence, a separate fatal shooting near a memorial site for Coleman underscored how unresolved the case remained; a local report noted that the person responsible for Coleman’s death was still at large and that police had not made arrests in the city’s homicides during that stretch.
Away from the crime-scene tape and city inspections, Coleman’s death notice captured a different, quieter truth: a life that ended suddenly, leaving a family to gather and grieve. Services were announced in Niagara Falls, with friends received at Bethany Baptist Church and arrangements handled by Williamson Funeral Home, as loved ones tried to hold onto memory while the public questions—who did it, and why—hung unanswered.
