Assistant Metro Editor

Coakley is the assistant editor of Globe West. He joined the Globe in 1988 after working for newspapers in Torrington, Conn., Annapolis, Md., Baltimore, Denver, and Sacramento, Calif. He previously worked as an editor in Globe South and Globe Northwest and on the City Desk.
A few weeks ago, minutes before the faithful would leave, a loud crackle sounded and wisps of smoke hung in the air. Two bullets had pierced the sanctuary of the Blue Hill Revival Center in Mattapan.
Bloodstains in the dirty snow on the sidewalk in front of a Boyd Street house were testimony to another killing yesterday, two blocks from the AMC Market where store owner Manuel Monteiro was gunned down last Monday.
The stabbing death Wednesday night of Joanne Samuel tore apart the daily fabric of life at the Boston Police Department’s Area B station on Dudley Street.
A day after his partner was gunned down in their Geneva Avenue grocery store, Antonio Cabral struggled with a decision that confronts more and more inner-city storekeepers: Is it worth it to stay open and risk death?