Fletcher Coats

Fletcher Coats, 29, of St. Louis, was found shot on June 28 in an alley in the 2500 block of North Grand Boulevard near the former Grand Motel in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. Coats died at a hospital. Jimmie Timothy Gillespie Jr., 31, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. A text message from Gillespie’s phone where he bragged “1 down” minutes after the fatal shooting, and a pistol tied to the killing are among the evidence police cited in court documents. Coats lived in the 4100 block of Pleasant Street. He 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.”