Peoria Standard

D’Berry M. Coleman, 19, was sentenced to six and a half years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after being seen live-streaming with a fully automatic weapon in South Peoria last year.

On April 9, 2024, police observed Coleman, then 17, streaming a live video on Instagram while displaying a firearm modified with a “switch” to make it fully automatic. The weapon also had an extended magazine. When officers approached him, Coleman ran into a residence on the 2100 block of W. Starr, where he was taken into custody and the firearm was recovered.

Coleman was initially charged as a juvenile in April 2024. A judge later approved his transfer to adult felony court. In August 2025, he pleaded guilty to Unlawful Use of Weapons and has remained in custody since his arrest.

The sentencing comes as Peoria County schools report demographic data for the 2022-23 school year. For example, Peoria High School had the highest enrollment of Black students among the county’s 64 schools with 798 students enrolled (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx). Other schools recorded high enrollments for different student groups: Lincoln School had the most Hispanic students at 218 (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx), Dunlap High School had the largest number of white students at 873 (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx), and Richwoods High School led in multiracial student enrollment with 182 (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx).