Fletcher Coats

A St. Louis man bragged “1 down” in a text he sent minutes after a fatal shooting last month along North Grand Boulevard, a St. Louis homicide detective said in court papers. Jimmie Timothy Gillespie Jr., 31, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. The text message from Gillespie’s phone and a pistol tied to the killing are among the evidence police cited in court documents. Fletcher Coats, 29, of St. Louis, was found shot on June 28 in an alley in the 2500 block of North Grand Boulevard. Coats died at a hospital. The day Coats was killed, Gillespie had been on the streets after he apparently absconded from his supervisory release in a federal weapons case, said St. Louis police Detective Beary Bowles. Gillespie was being held in jail Monday by federal authorities. Coats was shot to death about 12:30 a.m. July 28 at 2534 North Grand Boulevard, near the former Grand Motel in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. Coats lived in the 4100 block of Pleasant Street. Coats was the father of three daughters, ages 2, 9 and 10. His sister, Leonia Coats, said her brother was a giving, humble man. He had his own clothing line, primarily jumpsuits, hoodies and short sets. He doted on his pit bull named Bella. “We feel he was cheated out of his life,” Leonia Coats said in an interview. “He still had a lot of life to live.” A witness heard shots and saw someone run to a silver SUV and drive away, according to court documents. Police said surveillance cameras showed a silver Honda Pilot circling the area before the shooting. Officers used the footage to get the Pilot’s license plate. A few days later, officers spotted the Pilot at a gas station, where a man was pumping gas. The man sped away, and police tried to stop the vehicle but lost sight of it. They later found it abandoned in an alley, and police said two cellphones left inside the SUV would provide key details in building their case. Bowles said officers confirmed the phones belonged to Gillespie. One of the phones had his cash payment app registered to “J Beam,” the name Gillespie used on social media, Bowles said in court papers. Tracking data put the phone at the homicide scene the night Coats was killed, Bowles said, and a text Gillespie sent 20 minutes after the murder said, “1 down.” Police did not indicate who received Gillespie’s text. Leonia Coats said she doesn’t know Gillespie and hasn’t been told by detectives what led to her brother’s killing. She gasped in shock Monday after hearing about the text message police say Gillespie sent after the shooting. Leonia Coats said she thinks someone set up her brother. He had been at the Upper Level Lounge on North Grand that night and left to walk around to the back, possibly with a woman, before being shot, Leonia Coats said. Police arrested Gillespie on July 22. He had a pistol, and ballistics testing tied the gun to the murder, Bowles said. Several 9 mm casings had been found where Coats was slain. Detectives sought murder charges then, but prosecutors took the case under advisement for more evidence. Gillespie was then relayed to the custody of federal authorities on July 25, said Evita Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis Police Department. Gillespie has a federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. In 2016, he was sentenced in U.S. District Court to seven years in prison and three years of supervised release. In a petition filed this summer, federal probation officers accused Gillespie of violating the terms of his release by missing multiple drug-testing appointments, using marijuana in February and failing to report to his probation officer in May. A federal judge ordered on July 1 that Gillespie’s supervised release be revoked. Gillespie lives in the 3500 block of California Avenue.