He lived alone in an apartment in the heart of Havre de Grace's business district, and each morning 61-year-old Jeff Coudon would make his way in his wheelchair down North Washington Street to the Concord Point Coffee Shop where he would find a warm cup of joe and an even warmer heart in barista Marion Jackson.
“He was just kind and quiet,” said Jackson, “His family is from Perryville. My family is from Port Deposit and we'd sit and chat about our family and who we knew, and he was just a nice guy.”
On Sunday, Coudon missed his daily coffee stop when something happened to him that hasn't happened in downtown Havre de Grace in more than a decade—-he was murdered.
Corporal Daniel Petz of the Havre de Grace Police Department says a friend discovered Coudon in his apartment that morning suffering from an apparent knife wound and called 911.
“When officers responded to help with EMS, they determined that it was actually a gunshot wound,” said Petz.
A gunshot wound, which would cost Coudon his life three days later.
“Oh, I cried for about half an hour last night when I found out, because my mom works at the hospital, and we heard from one of our other nurses that it was him and that he had passed,” said Jackson.
At this point, police aren't commenting on any potential motive for Coudon's killing, except to say they believe this was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public.
“I'm nervous now because it was in this block and I live just two blocks over,” said Jackson, “I just hope they catch whoever did it because I don't know why anyone would want to hurt him.”
If you have any information, which could help lead police to Coudon's killer, you're asked to call the Criminal Investigations Unit at 410-939-2121.
