Keith Coleman found guilty by jury in 2022 shooting death of Henry Moore

A Franklin County jury on Thursday convicted a Columbus man of a 2022 killing that Franklin County prosecutors said was retaliation for the victim who shot him months earlier.

Keith Z. Coleman, 27, of South Linden, was convicted of the 2022 murder of Henry B. Moore Jr., 32, after a four-day trial in Franklin County Magistrate Court. The jury convicted Coleman of aggravated murder and murder, and both convictions included a three-year prison sentence for the weapons charge, according to Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Jason Manning.

The jury also convicted Coleman of two separate counts of possessing a firearm under disability, meaning he was not allowed to own a firearm because of a prior felony conviction.

According to county prosecutors, Moore shot Coleman in January 2022 at the Sterling Court apartments on Columbus’ East Side. At the time, Coleman lied to police and refused to press charges, prosecutors said. But police recovered shell casings.

Seven months later, after midnight on July 3, 2022, in the same apartment complex, Coleman shot Moore once in the face and once in the back, prosecutors told the jury. Moore returned fire, prosecutors said.

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Ballistics tests later revealed that shell casings from the January shooting matched those in Moore’s gun.

A subsequent search of Coleman’s phone revealed that about three hours after killing Moore, he logged on to the Internet to read a news article about Moore’s death. That same day, Coleman looked at records from Franklin County Municipal Court and the county’s Magistrate Court, presumably to check whether he had been charged, prosecutors said.

Coleman’s sentencing date is scheduled for Oct. 10.

Dispatch reporter Shahid Meighan contributed to this report.

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