Shooting Near Yankee Stadium

Vendor Guilty in Shooting Near Yankee Stadium, Courthouse

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 6- It was a midday double-shooting that took place not only in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, but also the backyard of the very courthouse where defendant Horace Coleman was tried, and is now convicted, of murder and other charges.

Bronx County District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced the verdicts in the five-week-long jury trial: guilty of murder in the second degree, guilty of attempted murder in the second degree, and guilty of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

On August 23rd, 2012, the streets around E. 161st Street & Gerard Avenue were busy with lunch-hour crowds when street vendor Coleman, age 52 at the time of the incident, drew a fully-loaded Magnum .357 revolver and fired at Clarence Pearson, age 41 and Douglas Watkins, age 60, in a dispute over borrowed money.

Because of the location’s proximity to the Bronx courthouses, four court officers who were in the immediate area gave chase, surrounding Coleman, who had walked a block away across 161st Street. Coleman, dressed in a pinstriped suit and a white fedora, dropped his gun and surrendered.

Pearson succumbed to his injuries two days after the shooting; Watkins, who was also shot in the abdomen, survived and testified at trial

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Susanna Imbo of Trial Bureau A34.

Coleman faces a prison sentence of 25 years-to-life on the murder charge; 25 years on the attempted murder charge, and up to 15 years behind bars on each of the gun charges.

Coleman is being held without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27th before State Supreme Court Justice William Mogulescu, Part H77.

Tags: Horace Coleman, shooting, Yankee Stadium, Bronx Courthouse