Do you know who murdered Jakeem Tully? In the early hours of July 20, 2008, just after 2 a.m., 15-year-old Jakeem Tully, an African-American male, was standing with a group of young men in front of a 24-hour store at 485 Albany Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut. A vehicle carrying several men drove by, and one of the occupants opened fire on the group. Jakeem was struck by two bullets, one in his left bicep and another in the left side of his chest. He collapsed to the ground, seriously wounded, as a crowd began to form.
Despite the gathering crowd, no one immediately called the police.
Two men who were driving past the scene noticed Jakeem lying on the pavement and stopped to help. They placed him in the back seat of their car and drove him to St. Francis Hospital, where they alerted the emergency room staff. The two good Samaritans remained at the hospital and cooperated with the police, providing an account of what they had witnessed. Tragically, Jakeem Tully was pronounced dead at 2:42 a.m. This was not the first time the teenager had been a victim of gun violence; just 16 days earlier, on July 4, 2008, he had sustained minor injuries in another drive-by shooting on Albany Avenue. In that incident, the driver of the car he was in, a member of the Money Green gang named James "Decky" Brown, was seriously wounded.
The investigation into Jakeem's murder uncovered a bitter rivalry between two street gangs in the city's north end. Authorities believe that Jakeem's death was a case of mistaken identity and that the shooters had intended to target a member of the Money Green/Bedroc street gang. The shooting was thought to be in retaliation for the murder of Anthony "Chunk" Alexander. Despite identifying several persons of interest, the police investigation was hampered by a lack of cooperation from the community. To date, no arrests have been made in the case, and it remains an unsolved homicide. Law enforcement continues to seek information from the public regarding the shooting of Jakeem Tully.
