In the winter of 2022, a young woman's life was tragically cut short in Jackson, Mississippi. Eighteen-year-old Raven Coleman, a recent graduate of Jim Hill High School, was fatally shot on January 13th while sitting in a vehicle at the Ellis Avenue Plaza. Coleman was at a T-Mobile store to pay her phone bill when the incident occurred. Her stepmother, who was driving the car, was also shot in the leg but survived the attack.
In the backseat, Coleman's two-year-old son was miraculously unharmed, though bullet holes were later found in his car seat.
The investigation into the shooting led authorities to identify a suspect, but it would be several months before an arrest was made. On May 24, 2022, police in Jackson took 18-year-old Latimius Washington into custody. His arrest came after an investigation into a separate auto burglary led officers to a house where Washington and several other teenagers were present. Investigators were able to link Washington to the shooting after recovering cell phones from a vehicle he was believed to have been in, one of which had his photo on the lock screen.
Following his arrest, Latimius Washington was charged with murder, two counts of aggravated assault, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and a drive-by shooting in connection with the death of Raven Coleman. He appeared in court in May 2022 and was denied bond. The case was set to go before a Hinds County grand jury.
