On October 19, 1993, John Henkel was shot in the chest by a .40-caliber handgun outside of James Weldon Johnson Houses on Park Avenue and East 114th Street. Coleman stated that he ambushed and shot Henkel during an attempted robbery and fled the scene throwing his weapon into the East River. Coleman's information matched with the case and he was charged with murder. He is currently incarcerated at the Elmira Correctional Facility, located upstate in Elmira, NY. Coleman told in an interview that he confessed because the case weighed on him and he was "just trying to get things right between himself and God". Coleman claimed that he did not know that his victim died.