Dacorian Kassette Dee Coleman, a 17-year-old Black male known to his loved ones as "Dee," was remembered for his close family bonds. He was born on April 22, 1998, to Sheila Perry and Kassetta L. Coleman in Starkville, Mississippi. He grew up surrounded by siblings Faijion Hill, Kassette L. Coleman, Jr., Kassidy Coleman, and Destiny Baker, and was cherished by his grandparents, Clinton Moore, Darlene Perry, and Armie Coleman. His life, however, was violently cut short in a complex incident that would take years to unravel.
On the evening of Friday, March 4, 2016, at approximately 7:30 p.m., officers from the Starkville Police Department were dispatched to the Camelot Apartments at 1040 North Montgomery Street following reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they discovered Dacorian Coleman on the ground, suffering from a fatal gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The initial police response led to the immediate arrest of 28-year-old Neal Anthony Anderson, who was charged with murder in connection with the shooting.
However, the investigation quickly took a dramatic turn. Just days later, on March 7, Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols recommended that the murder charge against Anderson be dropped, citing a lack of evidence. As detectives continued to piece together the events of that night, they concluded that Anderson had acted in self-defense. The shooting, they determined, occurred during an armed robbery attempt perpetrated by Coleman and two other teenagers. Anderson, who was armed with a gun that belonged to him, shot Coleman during the attempted robbery.
With the focus shifted to the armed robbery, the Starkville Police Department identified two other suspects: 17-year-old Abdural Funtane Lee Jr. and 15-year-old Tomas Talib Bradford, both of Starkville. Lee, a junior and a standout football player at Starkville High School, turned himself in to authorities and was charged with armed robbery. He was later released on a $50,000 bond. Bradford was also arrested on an armed robbery charge and transported to the Oktibbeha County Jail, where his bond was also set at $50,000. Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols described the situation as "a very unfortunate incident for all parties involved... this not only affects the people that were directly involved in it but it affects the community as a whole."
The legal consequences for the two surviving teenagers unfolded over the next several years. In July 2018, Abdural Funtane Lee Jr. pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery. Further details on his sentence were not publicly available. In April 2019, Tomas Talib Bradford, then 18, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and a lesser charge of manslaughter for his role in the incident that led to Coleman's death. Bradford was sentenced to serve a total of 30 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The sentence consisted of 10 years for armed robbery and 20 years for manslaughter, to be served consecutively. At the time of the 2016 shooting, Bradford was out on bond for another violent crime, and his bond was subsequently revoked.
The case of Dacorian Coleman's death concluded not as a murder, but as a justifiable homicide during the commission of a felony. While the man who fired the fatal shot was cleared of wrongdoing, the incident resulted in one teenager's death and long prison sentences for his young accomplices. The investigation remains a somber chapter in the community's history. The Starkville Police Department has asked anyone with information to call them at 662-323-4131 or Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at 1-800-530-7151.
