Dimitri Coleman, a 29-year-old Black man from Charleston, West Virginia, was killed during a sudden, close-range shooting on the city’s West Side in the early morning hours of May 25, 2024. Charleston police were dispatched to the 400 block of Railroad Avenue at approximately 3:27 a.m. after reports of gunfire. Officers found Coleman in the roadway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Charleston Fire Department personnel attempted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting occurred around a restaurant and grill where a large number of people had gathered during Memorial Day weekend.
Witness accounts described an attack that unfolded in only seconds. Police said an unknown suspect came up behind Coleman, grabbed him around the neck, and fired multiple times before immediately running away. Lt. Tony Hazelett of the Charleston Police Department said the rear approach gave Coleman essentially no opportunity to react or defend himself. Investigators believed the shooting was targeted rather than random because the gunman approached Coleman specifically, opened fire on him, and did not shoot other people in the large crowd. Hazelett acknowledged early in the investigation that there appeared to be some kind of backstory between what happened and the people involved, but police had not established or publicly announced a motive.
After firing, the suspect fled east on foot into an alley toward Watts Street. The scene then became even more chaotic when multiple people reportedly fired gunshots at the fleeing gunman. Police found no evidence that those shots struck him. Investigators canvassed the area and recovered numerous shell casings, leaving them to sort through gunfire associated with the killing as well as shots fired afterward. The suspect was described only in general terms as an older individual dressed in dark clothing, including a black jacket or shirt and black pants. No name was publicly released, and police did not initially announce that they had identified the person responsible.
In the days after the killing, investigators continued asking the public for help, but the case was complicated by an apparent lack of cooperation from people who had been present. Coleman’s mother, Alvernita Coleman, said there may have been roughly 150 people around the restaurant and bar that night, yet very little useful information was reaching police. She said she believed people in the crowd knew who the shooter was and possibly knew where he could be found. She also said she was unaware of Coleman having enemies and was left struggling to understand what could have led to such a deliberate attack. According to her account, Coleman was shot four times, with the first shot striking him in the back of the head before three additional shots were fired.
The killing left Coleman’s family mourning a Charleston native who had been born November 11, 1994. His obituary identified his mother as Alvernita Coleman and listed two children, Romeo Coleman and Eastyn Coleman, along with several siblings and other relatives. His funeral service was scheduled for June 7, 2024, in Dunbar. In interviews before the funeral, his mother remembered Coleman as playful, humorous and someone whose smile stood out, while at the same time focusing her public comments on finding the person who killed him.
As of the local reporting in early June 2024, no arrest had been made in connection with Coleman’s homicide. Police had not publicly named a suspect, announced criminal charges, or disclosed a confirmed motive. Searches of subsequent publicly available reporting located through August 16, 2026 did not reveal a credible later report announcing an arrest, indictment, trial, conviction, or identified defendant in Coleman’s killing. The publicly reported case therefore remains centered on the unidentified suspect who approached Coleman from behind, shot him repeatedly, and escaped toward Watts Street while people nearby fired after him. Charleston police asked anyone with information to contact the department’s Criminal Investigation Division or Metro Communications as investigators continued seeking information from witnesses who were present that morning.
