A man accused of fatally shooting a Lewiston woman on Friday has been arrested in Mississippi.
Jaquile Coleman Submitted photo
Jaquile Coleman, 26, of Lewiston was arrested Wednesday in Hancock County, Mississippi, by the local sheriff’s office without incident, said Katy England, a spokesman for the Maine State Police, in a statement. Coleman will be returned to Maine to face a murder charge in the death of 19-year-old Natasha Morgan, England said.
Coleman’s arrest was a result of collaboration between Maine State Police major crimes unit, the Lewiston Police, the U.S. Marshals Service and Vermont State Police and was carried out by local Mississippi deputies serving in the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
The arrest was made based on a warrant obtained by Maine State Police after police and rescue crews discovered Morgan lying on the ground bleeding from two gunshot wounds near the driveway of a home at 175 Scribner Blvd., at about 4 p.m. on Friday.
Neighbors reported hearing three to five shots ring out. Morgan’s mother, Liza, called the shooting a “domestic situation” in which Coleman wanted to reconcile with Morgan, the mother of his 1-year-old daughter, but Morgan didn’t want to get back together. He had just brought the baby home from daycare before the shooting took place, Liza Morgan said.
The baby was in her car when Liza Morgan heard the shots. She saw Coleman with a gun and Natasha lying on the ground.
“I ran up to his car,” Liza Morgan wrote in a Facebook post. “He put the gun to my face and I ducked. Then he backed out. I tried to help and revive my daughter before the paramedics and officers arrived. The baby was not harmed but now she has no mother now.”
The suspect’s vehicle was found on a dead-end section of Farwell Street, about a mile and a half away from the shooting scene, about two and a half hours later. A manhunt ensued, with police snipers and dogs searching for Coleman in that neighborhood, but turned up nothing.
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