A Queens ex-con accused of fatally shooting his mother went “off the grid” and started behaving strangely about a week before the killing, the suspect’s father told the Daily News.
Dashawn Coggins’ dad said he’d tried to warn his family members, including his ex-wife — murder victim Natalie Coggins — to be careful around her son, but they didn’t take the warnings seriously.
“He was going off the grid and I guess she didn’t take it serious, you know?” said the 53-year-old father, who identified himself only as Mr. Phillip. “He just started talking crazy, talking and saying delusional stuff.”
Coggins, 36, shot his mother, Natalie Coggins, 61, in the head in her home on 121st Ave. near Long St. at about 9:30 p.m. March 29, police said.
Witnesses said Coggins drove off shortly before his mother’s body was discovered. Police found him in Brooklyn a few hours later and recovered the murder weapon, cops said.
Coggins was charged with his mother’s murder and hit with menacing charges for a March 22 incident in which cops say he pulled a gun on a 46-year-old woman, not a family member, in Hollis.
He and the woman were arguing on the street outside a house on 194th St. near 100th Ave. — around the block from where his father lives — when he pulled out a gun and said, “I’m gonna shoot this s— up,” then fled, according to a criminal complaint.
Coggins remained held without bail after his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on March 31. His Queens Defenders lawyer declined to comment Monday.
Public records show Coggins served almost three years in prison for a 2017 weapon possession conviction. He was released to parole in March 2020 and his parole ended that October.
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
Dashawn Coggins, 36, shot his mother, Natalie Coggins, 61, in the head in her home, police say. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
Mourners flocked to Facebook to offer condolences after Natalie Coggins’ killing, remembering her as a community volunteer and a caring woman.
She was particularly active in the Queens County Section of the National Council of Negro Women, according to the group’s Facebook page.
“She was a Life Member and played a major role in the Queens County Section as chair of the Community Service and Thanksgiving Basket Committee,” reads an April 1 post by the group. “Please, keep the Coggins family in your prayers. Natalie will truly be missed.”
Dashawn Coggins’ father recalled his ex-wife as a “nice person.”
“She was a good person. That’s all,” he said. “It’s a tough time right now.”
He said he last spoke to Coggins about a week before the murder.
“Something triggered and he went off the grid,” the father said, adding that Coggins never acted violently toward him.
“No. He never got like that with me. Only when he was around his mother, he’d be violent and yelling and cursing and stuff like that,” he said.
“I used to tell the kids … you got to tell your mother about Dashawn. They said, yeah, but she’s not taking it serious,” the dad said.
When asked if he hoped a jury would take his son’s mental state into consideration he said, “No. He end up in jail, he end up in jail. That’s it.”
With Rocco Parascandola
