Paul Bass photo
Dets. Larnell Jackson and Thomas Blaisdell canvassing Shelton Ave. on Tuesday.
WFSB photo
Marc Mulongo.
A 16-year-old Congolese immigrant was shot and killed steps away from the Newhallville driveway where he would shoot hoops for hours each day.
The shooting of Marc Mulongo, who was a sophomore at Hillhouse High School and who was described by people who knew him as a good kid who did not get in trouble, took place on Shelton Avenue Monday at 8:42 p.m.
New Haven Police Department spokesperson Capt. Rose Dell sent out an email press release about Mulongo’s homicide Tuesday morning.
She wrote that police received a report of a shooting on Shelton at around 8:24 p.m. Monday.
Upon arriving at the scene, police found Mulongo, “who had sustained a gunshot wound. He was immediately transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment but succumbed to his injuries.”
Detectives have been searching the area for evidence and witnesses, Dell continued. “The police are urging members of the public to come forward with any information they may have about the incident.”
Hillhouse Principal Mark Sweeting stopped by the family’s home late Tuesday afternoon to drop off cards made by Marc’s classmates.
“This hurts. Hillhouse is in pain right now,” Sweeting said.
He described Marc as a student with excellent grades and attitude, as well as someone who “lived for basketball.”
“He had an amazing smile. He was one of the most fun students to be around,” Sweeting said. “He loved talking to his teachers about the Lakers.”
“We are deeply saddened by this loss of young life,” Police Chief Karl Jacobson is quoted as saying in the press release. “Our detectives are working tirelessly to piece together the events that led to this tragedy. We are asking anyone who may have information, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, to come forward and help us bring those responsible to justice.”
In a follow-up phone call Tuesday, Jacobson said that Mulongo, who was finishing up 10th grade at Hillhouse this year, had been playing basketball earlier in the day with friends. He was shot and killed not while playing basketball, the police chief said, but rather while sitting in a car in the driveway between his house and another young person’s house on the 400 block of Shelton Avenue. The car he was sitting in was not his own.
Anyone with information on this incident is urged to 203 – 946-6304 or through the department’s anonymous tip-line at 866 – 888-TIPS (8477).
Paul Bass photo
The driveway and basketball hoop at Mulongo's Shelton Avenue home.
According to a teen friend who lives next door and was too shook up to be interviewed on Tuesday afternoon, Mulongo shot hoops every day in his driveway (pictured above). The neighbor said he shot hoops with him all the time there, and that he put out a chair and the ball on Tuesday in Marc’s memory. The neighbor’s mom consoled her son on Tuesday afternoon, and said that Marc was a great kid. She said the murder took place in the driveway.
In an email comment on Tuesday morning, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Iline Tracey said, “Marc Antoine Mukalay Mulongo was a 16-year-old sophomore at Hillhouse High School. The death of this energetic, sweet young man is a profound loss felt by all members of the New Haven community. Our prayers are with Marc’s family. We are reaching out to students and staff to provide counseling support. We are grateful to the New Haven police for their efforts to piece together what led to this tragedy. We are also grateful to our crisis team and Youth Connect staff for rallying support for the school and family.”
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Elicker on Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Justin Elicker grieved Mulongo’s death and urged anyone with any information about what happened to come forward.
“To think about someone that’s 16 years old, had his whole life ahead of him, by all accounts he was a good student at Hillhouse, it’s just awful,” he said.
Elicker said that Mulongo’s mom is from Congo and that the family has lived in their Newhallville home for the past six years. He said that he was on scene with Mulongo’s mom and her boyfriend Monday night, looking at photos of their son and mourning his death.
“If people have information about this,” he continued, “it is unconscionable not to share information with the New Haven Police Department and identify who did this.”
Later on Tuesday afternoon, WFSB published an interview with Mulongo’s mother, Nellya Mballa, and his mother’s boyfriend, John Murphy, in which they spoke about just how much Monday’s homicide has upended their lives. They also said the bullet that ended Mulongo’s life appeared to have been intended for someone else.
“He was a good boy, you can ask everyone on the street, you can go to the school and talk to the teachers,” WFSB quoted Mballa as saying.
“He was a great young man, did everything, very kind to all people,” Murphy is quoted as saying, “but he got his life taken and it took my life too because without him, I just don’t have a life at all.”
Paul Bass contributed to this report.
My condolences to the loved ones of the deceased.
I hope anyone who witnessed this or knows anything about this reaches out to the authorities and the anti-violence groups to prevent retaliation and further violence reheated to this and to catch those responsible and bring them to justice.
I hope all the NHPS hold grief and social emotional counseling and provide hotline phone numbers to the students for all kinds of mental health crisis support and violence prevention groups and other resources so students know who they can turn to for help. It’s going to be a long, hot and dangerous and deadly summer for young people.
Please consider volunteering or donating to youth groups, summer camp funding, anti violence groups, and other social support organizations to help keep our young people safe and busy doing positive and productive things this summer while school is out.