A person stated that simply days earlier than his ex-wife was fatally shot within the head, he tried to warn his family members about his son’s weird conduct and remarks.
Now, 36-year-old Dashawn Coggins faces fees for allegedly capturing and killing his mom, 61-year-old Natalie Coggins, in her Queens residence on March 29.
Coggins fled the scene after the capturing. Authorities discovered him in Brooklyn just a few hours later the place they recovered the homicide weapon, as properly. They charged him with homicide and prison possession of a weapon.
Coggins’ father stated that he final spoke together with his son every week earlier than the homicide and added that Dashawn went “off the grid” simply days earlier than returning to Queens.
“I used to inform the youngsters … you bought to inform your mom about Dashawn. They stated, ‘Yeah, however she’s not taking it severe.’ He was going off the grid and I suppose she didn’t take it severe, you already know?” Coggins’ 53-year-old father, who recognized himself solely as Mr. Phillip, stated to the New York Every day Information. “He simply began speaking loopy, speaking and saying delusional stuff. One thing triggered and he went off the grid.”
Neighbors recall the commotion that erupted after the capturing.
“I heard the yelling and the screaming,” Kim Smith, 58, informed The New York Submit after listening to Dashawn’s sister wailing. Smith additionally stated Dashawn’s sister claimed Dashawn had declared, “I killed mommy!” after the capturing.
“All people was screaming. It was a giant ruckus out right here, so I don’t know what was occurring,” neighbor Tommy Drexler stated.
Neighbors informed CBS Information that the household usually “stored to themselves” and Natalie Coggins had solely lived within the constructing for lower than a yr.
“She comes and goes, says howdy, and that’s it,” Drexler stated. “Her son wasn’t residing right here that lengthy both, and he was at all times exterior going out and in of the home.”
Dashawn reportedly lived in an residence constructing within the Bedford-Stuyvesant space of Brooklyn, however was charged in a March 22 incident for allegedly pulling a gun on a lady after claiming for months that he lived in her residence in Queens only a block from the place his father lived.
Latasha Straughter stated the day that she, her husband, and their 5 youngsters moved into their rented home in August, Coggins confronted them.
“The day we moved in right here he was strolling up and down the driveway saying, ‘That is my home,’” Straughter informed the Every day Information. “‘Why are you shifting in right here?’ He stated he owned the property. It was actually loopy.”
The owner acknowledged Coggins as a former tenant and he was reportedly nonetheless receiving mail on the handle.
Coggins continued feuding with the household for seven months, then Coggins confirmed up on the residence once more in March and pulled a gun on Straughter.
“He stated, ‘I’m going to kill you all, I’m going to shoot this s–t up,” Straughter recalled. “I referred to as the cops instantly however by then, he was gone.”
Coggins was incarcerated for almost three years for a 2017 weapon possession conviction. He was granted parole and launched in October 2020.
Coggins’ father stated that his son by no means received violent with him, however would show threatening conduct round his mom.
“He by no means received like that with me. Solely when he was round his mom, he’d be violent and yelling and cursing and stuff like that,” Mr. Phillip stated. “She was an excellent particular person. That’s all. It’s a tricky time proper now,” he added about his ex-wife.
Natalie Coggins was energetic in her neighborhood the place she held a management function within the Queens County Part of the Nationwide Council of Negro Ladies.
“This previous weekend, NCNW, Inc. Queens County Part misplaced one in every of our phenomenal sisters, Natalie Coggins,” the group wrote in an April 1 Fb publish. “She was a Life Member and performed a significant function within the Queens County Part as chair of the Group Service and Thanksgiving Basket Committee.”
