James Coakley, a 17-year-old Black male, was shot on the sidewalk outside his home on Hollander Street in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood on the evening of July 4, 2011. Police from District B-2 were called to 60 Hollander Street a little after 7 p.m.; responding officers found him suffering from a gunshot wound, and he was later pronounced dead. Witness updates that night noted the shooting around 8 p.m. and confirmed his death soon after.
His killing unfolded amid a night of citywide violence over the Independence Day holiday, when four people were killed and at least nine others were injured in separate incidents across Boston. News reports described James as the first person to die that night, shot in front of his house, and the youngest victim of the holiday's bloodshed.
The community mourned him in Roxbury the following week, a funeral that underscored the shock of losing a teenager at his own doorstep and the toll of that night on families across multiple neighborhoods. Coverage emphasized both the setting—his own block on Hollander Street—and the broader pattern of violence that July 4.
Police records list the case among Boston's unsolved homicides from 2011. Authorities have not announced any arrests or identified suspects in James Coakley's killing, and the case remains open with appeals for information.
