Coleman was killed in the doorway of 45 West 139th Street in Harlem on February 15, 1999 after being shot nine times in the face and chest.[34][35][36] Gerard Woodley, one of Coleman's childhood friends, was arrested in May for the crime.[37] At the time of his death, Coleman had two brothers in prison. "It's a good possibility it was retaliation for something [Big L's] brother did, or [Woodley] believed he had done," said a spokesperson for the NYPD.[38] Woodley was later released, and the murder case remains unsolved.[39]
In a 2010 interview with Donald Phinazee, he commented on what led up to the death of Big L
There was something that went down with a dude out here with my middle brother, "Big Lee", and, uh, Lee went upstate for five years. [...] It was a little problem like I just said, "divide and conqueror" with the fellas between all of us, and, uh, [Lee] went upstate, then I went upstate, and then [Lee] sent word to do something [to someone]. He sent word to somebody else to do something, but Lamont went with him, which Lamont shouldn't have went with him. [...] It didn't go down the way it was supposed to have went down and they seen Lamont face. [...] So, uh, both of us is gone, and [Lamont] was out here by hisself. And so you can't get one brother, you get the other one. That's it in a nutshell.
—Donald Phinazee, [31]
