Man with criminal past kills self; wife found dead in home
By Erika Slife, Annie Sweeney and Jeremy Gorner
Tribune reporters
November 28, 2009
Antwone and Claudette Coleman spent their first Thanksgiving as a married couple shuttling between family get-togethers, where his relatives said they saw no signs of tension between the two.
Despite Antwone's criminal record of violence, abuse and drugs, Claudette wed him last month, telling a neighbor that he was "the one."
"They were just the happiest couple," said Antwone's sister, Dominique Coleman, 24. "Nothing seemed wrong. They were smooching and doing everything a couple is supposed to do."
At some point Thursday night, those displays of affection ended. Neighbors heard the couple's quarrels echoing from their Garfield Park apartment -- and then a popping sound, said Renee Hilliard, who lives on the same floor as the couple.
Police found Antwone Coleman's body first, on the street in the 3300 block of West Monroe Street, blocks from the couple's home in the 3400 block of West Madison Street. The 28-year-old had an apparent self-inflicted bullet wound in his head, authorities said.
Several hours later, police found his wife's body early Friday in the third-floor apartment that they shared with her 10-year-old daughter. Claudette Coleman, 30, died of multiple gunshot wounds, and the Cook County medical examiner's office ruled her death a homicide.
Police are investigating the shootings as a murder-suicide, authorities said.
The daughter was staying with her great-grandmother when the shooting occurred, family said.
"They were so good together," said Hilliard, who was in shock Friday. "I really don't know what happened. It all happened so fast."
The couple recently found out that Claudette Coleman was pregnant, friends and family said. At least part of Thanksgiving was spent at his grandmother's house in southwest suburban Lockport, where they played cards, ate a holiday meal and looked at newspaper ads in preparation for Black Friday.
It was a "beautiful day, beautiful day," said his grandmother, Beatrice Harden.
The couple then headed back to their Garfield Park apartment complex to continue their holiday celebration at Claudette Coleman's grandmother's home, which is across the courtyard. The two had been fighting on and off, Hilliard said the family told her Friday.
Court records show that Antwone Coleman had a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for drugs, domestic battery and aggravated battery to a police officer. He also was a registered sex offender after a 1998 conviction for molesting a young relative, court records show.
Claudette's brother, Artis Wilson, said that the family had not been aware of that criminal record. They knew of no violence between the two, he said.
"If anyone would have seen that, it would have been squashed," he said angrily Friday morning. "She's my baby sister."
Antwone Coleman also had been in a legal battle with the mother of his baby, with records indicating an order of protection and conflict over visitation rights.
But neighbors said that talk in the apartment complex of Antwone Coleman's violent past did not bother Claudette, who had known him for years. To the surprise of both families, the couple married on Oct. 10 in City Hall. He wore a tuxedo; she donned a black and gray dress.
"She was real happy," Hilliard said. "I asked her, 'Are you sure you're ready for this?' She said, 'He's the one.' "
Several neighbors remembered Claudette as an attentive mother who kept a chart on the refrigerator that outlined mother-daughter days, family days and other scheduled outings. Hilliard shared a back porch with Claudette and said that they liked to barbecue together and sit outside and talk.
She said that Claudette's daughter seemed to like Antwone, whom everyone called "Twenty" for his penchant as a youngster to beg for quarters.
"She was happy with him," she said. "I never heard him fuss at her or whup her or nothing."
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