Raven Coleman

Raven Coleman was an 18-year-old mother whose life was cut short in a burst of gunfire in Jackson, Mississippi. On the afternoon of January 13, 2022, the young Black woman was a passenger in a white Honda driven by her mother. In the backseat, her two-year-old son was strapped into his car seat. The family had stopped at a T-Mobile store in the Ellis Avenue Plaza to pay a phone bill.

As they pulled into the parking lot, a suspect in another vehicle leaned out the window with an assault rifle and opened fire. Their Honda was riddled with bullets, and the glass of the storefront shattered. Raven Coleman was fatally shot. Her mother was struck in the leg but survived her injuries. Miraculously, the toddler in the back was physically unharmed.

Jackson Police Chief James Davis told reporters that investigators believed Coleman was targeted, though the motive was not clear. According to a precinct commander, witnesses saw a Black male wearing a mask firing the weapon. Later that day, police found the suspect vehicle abandoned on Combs Avenue with the radio still playing. Officers were told that three people, one armed with an assault rifle and another with a handgun, had jumped out of the car, but a search of the area came up empty.

The investigation continued for months. In April 2022, police publicly identified 18-year-old Latimius Washington as a suspect in the killing. On May 24, 2022, authorities apprehended Washington on Winn Street in Jackson. He was charged with murder, two counts of aggravated assault, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and a drive-by shooting. A judge denied him bond, and the case was set to be presented to a Hinds County grand jury.

The case against Washington, however, did not proceed. According to the Jackson Police Department, he was later released from custody after investigators determined there was not enough information to move forward with the prosecution. In June 2024, Raven Coleman’s family joined the police chief to ask the public for any information that could bring them closure. Her uncle said that her son misses his mother every day. The murder of Raven Coleman remains unsolved.