Late on September 28, 2024, violence erupted in the LaFayette Gardens apartments on Richmond’s Southside. Malcom Randolph Coleman, 29 and known in the local music scene as Mack Ben Widdit, was found in the parking lot in the 2200 block of Ruffin Road with a gunshot wound just before 9:55 p.m. He was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and died that night; his death was ruled a homicide.

Another person sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound in the same incident and drove to a different hospital. Investigators say a party may have been underway at the complex and that many people were present when shots were fired. Richmond Police Major Crimes opened an investigation, but despite numerous potential witnesses no arrests or suspect identifications have been announced.

Anyone who was at LaFayette Gardens that night or who has information that could help the investigation is asked to come forward.