A high school football star shot to death in a Brooklyn NYCHA apartment was the victim of some sort of accidental discharge, police sources said Tuesday.
Ka’mardre Coleman, 16, was shot in the chest Monday evening in an apartment he was visiting in the Sheepshead Bay Houses. He lived in a different building in the same NYCHA complex.
Cops are still trying to figure out how exactly he was shot, but believe it was accidental. No charges have been filed as police continue their probe.
“He is a good kid, and he is an all-around athlete,” said the victim’s father, Robert Coleman. “He takes off after his father. He played basketball and football. He wasn’t an out-in-the-street type of kid. He wasn’t in the streets. He was about his studies and sports.”
The victim was a standout on the Sheepshead Bay Sharks, the undefeated football team that just months ago won a city championship.
“Though he may no longer be with us physically, his spirit, impact, and memories will live on in our hearts forever,” the team posted on social media. “[He] was more than a student-athlete — he was a brother, a teammate, and a cherished part of our community.”
About a dozen votive candles shaped like the number 5 sat outside the Sheepshead Bay Houses Tuesday in honor of Ka’mardre’s jersey number. He would have turned 17 this Friday, a friend said.
Ka’mardre Coleman, 16, was fatally shot in the Sheepshead Bay Houses. (Instagram)
The teen was shot in a fourth-floor apartment of a NYCHA tower on Avenue X near Brown St. at about 5:55 p.m. Monday. Medics rushed the victim to South Brooklyn Health, where he died, police said.
“I heard a lot of noise,” said a neighbor who did not want to be named. “I thought It was just school kids. They argue. They are loud, and I didn’t think much of it. It’s sad the young man lost his life.”
Word of the shooting spread quickly across the neighborhood, and friends and teammates flocked to the Sheepshead Bay Houses, where mourners consoled each other, and arranged a makeshift memorial.
A family friend, Brittany Daniels, called the victim “sweet, respectful and innocent” in a social media post. “I just hugged you on Wednesday,” she added. “My heart is in so much pain.”
A memorial for Ka’mardre Coleman, 16, outside the Sheepshead Bay Houses on Avenue X in Brooklyn. (Nicholas Williams / New York Daily News)
The grief was shared by friends and neighbors.
”I know him through football,” said a man who came by the NYCHA complex to light a candle for the memorial. “As soon as I got home yesterday, it was all over the internet. He was a great kid, a happy kid. And I don’t really associate with a lot of them — but he was a happy, goofy kid.”
Police officers outside the fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay Houses where the 16-year-old boy was shot to death. (Kerry Burke / New York Daily News)
Ka’mardre was a student at United Charter High School for Advanced Math & Science III just down the street from where he was killed.
“We are deeply saddened,” said Stephanie Millian, a spokeswoman for the school. “This is an incredibly difficult time for our school community, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to the student’s family, friends and loved ones.”
Just months ago, Ka’mardre, a safety and wide receiver, was celebrating his football team’s undefeated season, a campaign that earned them Brooklyn’s 3A Public School Athletic League Championship.
Ka’mardre had since then turned his attention to basketball, where the 5-foot-10 point guard also wore the number 5.