The mother of a 16-year-old boy, charged with manslaughter following the shooting death of a Brooklyn high school football player, works as an NYPD officer, according to law enforcement sources.
The boy’s identity hasn’t been released due to his age. He was allegedly carrying a handgun inside NYCHA’s Sheepshead Bay House when he shot 16-year-old Ka Mardre Coleman in the chest on Monday night.
The incident reportedly began when the suspect took a handgun from his backpack and passed it to three others in the room, including Coleman, based on the details in a complaint filed in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Afterward, he allegedly retrieved the gun again and removed the magazine.
During this interaction, a bullet was accidentally fired, fatally wounding Coleman, as noted by the court clerk.
Efforts to save the injured boy at a nearby hospital were unsuccessful.
Authorities have confirmed the mother’s position as an officer in the 5th Precinct, which serves areas like Chinatown and Little Italy.
In court, the boy’s attorney, Kenneth Montgomery, referenced his client’s mother’s role in the NYPD while advocating for reduced bail, which prosecutors had requested to be set at $250,000.
Montgomery asserted that the boy had no prior criminal record, but he did not immediately respond to inquiries from the Post.
The judge decided on a $60,000 cash bail or $125,000 bond, emphasizing that prosecutors stated there was no intentional wrongdoing involved in the incident.
Reports indicate that the boy’s family posted bail on Thursday.
Ka Mardre Coleman’s sister, Julani Bannister, 21, expressed a desire for clarity about her brother’s death, noting that he would have been 17.
“If your finger is on the gun, it’s not an accident,” she remarked.
“That was my heart. That was my baby,” Bannister reflected. “He was a bright light, my everything. I always tried to protect him. I want to say to him, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’”
A classmate described Ka Mardre as a fun-loving co-captain of the junior varsity football team at Sheepshead Bay High School.
His father, Codwell Coleman, also spoke to the Post by phone, describing his son as a dedicated athlete.
“He was all about life—polite, did well in school, and excelled in sports,” he said, revealing that his son had struggled academically at times. “I told him he couldn’t play sports until he was at the top of his class. Now, his academics are finally matching his athletic achievements.”
