In the early morning hours of August 16, 2022, the city of Tucson, Arizona, was irrevocably altered by an act of violence that claimed the life of 30-year-old Andrew Jamal Hodge, an African American male. His body was discovered inside a vehicle near North Ninth Avenue and West Flores Street, the result of what the Tucson Police Department would later describe as a shooting. Officers responded to reports of gunfire around 1:40 a.m.
and found Hodge with gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators quickly determined that the incident was not a random act of violence, though the specific motive remained a subject of their ongoing inquiry.
The investigation into Hodge's death led authorities to a single suspect: 32-year-old Anthony Marcell Coleman. Over a month after the fatal shooting, on September 23, 2022, law enforcement located Coleman at a residence on the 800 block of East Linden Street. With the assistance of SWAT, air support, and K-9 units, officers were able to apprehend him without incident. Coleman was subsequently booked into the Pima County Jail on charges of first-degree murder and for a parole violation. At the time of his arrest, his bond was set at over $1 million.
Further investigation into Coleman's background revealed a significant criminal history in Pima County. His record included a drug-related conviction in 2009, for which he served a one-year prison sentence. This was followed by a theft conviction in 2014 that resulted in a two-and-a-half-year sentence, and a weapons charge in 2018 that led to a four-and-a-half-year prison term. Coleman had been released from prison in May 2022, just a few months before Hodge's death, and was wanted for a parole violation at the time of the homicide. The loss of Andrew Jamal Hodge was deeply felt by his family and community, who remembered him as a loving son, nephew, and cousin with a warm personality and a constant smile. In the wake of his death, his family established a funeral fund to help with the unexpected financial burden.
