On the evening of March 29, 2024, 61-year-old Natalie Coggins was found fatally shot in the head at her home on 121st Avenue in South Jamaica, Queens. Police responded to a 911 call around 9:24 p.m.; emergency medical services pronounced her dead at the scene.

Authorities arrested her 36-year-old son, Dashawn Coggins, at the shared residence and charged him in the early morning hours of March 30 with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Reports say Dashawn had prior weapon-related convictions, including a 2017 conviction and nearly three years served, with release on parole in March 2020. Family members had recently expressed concern about his increasingly erratic behavior and delusional thoughts.

Neighbors remembered Natalie as friendly and active in the community; she had served as chair of the Community Service and Thanksgiving Basket Committee for the Queens County Section of the National Council of Negro Women. Does anyone in the neighborhood have information about Natalie’s last weeks or about tensions at the home that night?