In the early morning hours of March 17, 2017, Bernard “PeeWee” Coleman Jr., a 43-year-old Black or African American male, was fatally shot inside his home in the 4000 block of Cole Boulevard, SE in Washington, D.C. His body was discovered later that morning around 8:55 a.m. by window installers who were scheduled to do work at the residence. An autopsy later revealed that Coleman Jr. had sustained two gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the homicide quickly focused on a primary suspect: his own son, Bernard Coleman III. According to police reports, Coleman III, who was 23 at the time, entered his father's upstairs bedroom and shot him. Following the shooting, he took his father's car keys and cell phone and fled the scene. In an attempt to conceal the crime, Coleman III used his father's phone to send text messages, pretending to be him.
Less than a week after the murder, and before his arrest, Bernard Coleman III committed an armed robbery. He was apprehended by police on March 28, 2017. During questioning, he confessed to shooting his father but claimed it was an accident, stating he was playing with the gun and did not mean for it to fire.
Initially charged with second-degree murder while armed, Bernard Coleman III eventually pleaded guilty in December 2019 to voluntary manslaughter while armed, as well as charges related to the subsequent robbery. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the killing of his father. While awaiting sentencing, Coleman III escaped from St. Elizabeths Hospital in October 2020, where he was being held, and committed another assault and robbery. He was quickly recaptured and later sentenced to an additional three years for the escape and other offenses.
