In the spring of 2016, the life of 17-year-old Dacorian Kassette Dee Coleman, a Black male from Starkville, Mississippi, was tragically cut short. On the evening of March 4th, police responded to reports of gunfire at the Camelot Apartments. Arriving at the scene, they found Coleman with a fatal gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, leaving a community to grapple with the sudden loss of a young life.
Initially, the investigation led to the swift arrest of 28-year-old Neal Anthony Anderson, who was charged with murder. However, as detectives delved deeper into the circumstances surrounding the shooting, a different narrative began to emerge. Within days, the murder charge against Anderson was dropped. Investigators concluded that Anderson had acted in self-defense during an armed robbery. It was determined that Coleman, along with two other teenagers, had attempted to rob Anderson after a dice game. Anderson, who was armed, shot Coleman during the altercation.
With the focus of the investigation shifting to the armed robbery, authorities identified two other teenagers involved: 17-year-old Abdural Funtane Lee Jr. and 15-year-old Tomas Talib Bradford. Both were subsequently arrested and charged with armed robbery. Lee, a standout football player at Starkville High School, turned himself in and was later released on bond. Bradford was also taken into custody.
The legal proceedings that followed brought a measure of resolution to the case. In April 2019, Tomas Talib Bradford, then 18, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and a lesser charge of manslaughter for his role in the events that led to Coleman's death. He was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison—10 years for the armed robbery and 20 years for manslaughter, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Abdural Funtane Lee Jr. had pleaded guilty to robbery in July of 2018. The tragic incident at the Camelot Apartments serves as a stark reminder of a night of violence that ended one teenager's life and irrevocably altered the paths of several others.
