James Coakley was a 17-year-old Black male shot on the sidewalk outside his home on Hollander Street in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood on the evening of July 4, 2011. Police from District B-2 were called to 60 Hollander Street a little after 7 p.m.; responding officers found him with a gunshot wound and he was later pronounced dead. Witness updates that night noted the shooting around 8 p.m. and confirmed his death soon after.

His killing was the first death in a night of citywide violence over the Independence Day holiday that left four people dead and at least nine others injured in separate incidents across Boston; James was the youngest victim that night. The community held a funeral in Roxbury the following week, mourning the loss of a teenager at his own doorstep. Police list the case among Boston’s unsolved homicides from 2011 and have not announced any arrests or identified suspects.

If anyone remembers seeing activity on Hollander Street that evening or has information about this shooting, please share what is known with the authorities.