$2 million bail for man charged with fatally shooting girlfriend at Washington Heights home

Bail was set at $2 million for a man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend after an argument last year in her Washington Heights home.

Lawrence Jackson, 23, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder in connection to the Nov. 19, 2019, death of Keishianta Coleman, 22, according to a bond proffer prepared by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Jackson regularly stayed with Coleman in her bedroom at her house in the 10200 block of South Morgan Street, prosecutors said. The morning of the murder, Jackson went upstairs to Coleman’s bedroom after she let him inside.

Later that night, the pair was inside the bedroom about 10:05 p.m., and Coleman’s sister, who was 17 years old at the time, was listening to music and talking on her phone in a bedroom directly across the hall, prosecutors said. She heard a loud bang, came out of her room, looked into Coleman’s bedroom and saw Jackson standing by himself “looking nervous and rushed.”

The 17-year-old went downstairs and was standing outside her parent’s bedroom when she saw Jackson come downstairs “in a hurried way” and run out the front door, prosecutors said.

The teen went back upstairs to check on her sister and found Coleman lying on her side on the bed with blood all over her, prosecutors said. Police arrived soon after.

Coleman had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Police obtained a search warrant for Jackson’s phone and found that the phone was in the area of Coleman’s home at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said. Investigators also found that Jackson’s FOID card had previously been revoked and he had bought a .9mm semi-automatic gun in January 2019. A witness found an empty box for the gun inside Coleman’s bedroom.

Jackson appeared at a hearing Tuesday where his bail was set at $2 million. His next court date was set for July 6.