ON HIS OWN, DEAD BY 12

James "Pee Wee" Coleman turned 12 last month. He lived alone, on his own, away from his 26-year-old mother.

He died on Independence Day in his hometown of Camden, Penn. Cause of death: gunshot wound to the head.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Police arrived shortly after 11 p.m. to find the boy slumped in the back seat of a beat-up Oldsmobile, which was riddled with bullet holes and parked at the Branch Village housing project. More than 20 shell casings, most likely fired from an AK-47 assault rifle, were found nearby.

Robbery apparently was not the motive. Coleman's pockets were stuffed with cash - more than $500 - when investigators arrived. ...

"R.I.P. Pee-Wee" was scrawled in fresh black spray paint on a wall less than a block from where the 12-year-old was killed. On another corner, in oversized letters, was older graffiti that hinted Coleman may have aspired to be a drug-slinging gangster.

"GUN BOYZ. Pee-Wee-10th Street," it reads in weathered script.

The public schools couldn't confirm whether James Coleman ever attended classes, and Pennsylvania's Division of Youth and Family Services had never heard of him. "A kid with no supervision," a police lieutenant called him.