On a Friday afternoon, May 13, 2016, a young man named Khalil Sloan-Diaz, who was 17 years old, was shot and killed while sitting in a silver Audi at the intersection of Madison Avenue and Grand Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The shooting was brazen, taking place around noon. The incident was immediately flagged as likely being gang-related by authorities, another chapter in a violent feud between rival groups from the Greene Homes and Trumbull Gardens housing projects.
This violence had already claimed a number of young lives in the city.
In a fortunate turn for law enforcement, two youth bureau detectives were in the vicinity when the shots rang out. They witnessed the shooter fleeing the scene and gave chase, apprehending the suspect behind a nearby church. During the pursuit, the detectives were able to recover the firearm used in the killing, as well as clothing the suspect had attempted to discard, including a dark-colored hoodie. The man taken into custody was identified as 19-year-old Deonte Tomlinson. He was subsequently charged with murder, carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and altering identification marks on a firearm.
The narrative of the shooting became more complex as details of Sloan-Diaz's own past emerged. Just three months before his death, he had been acquitted by a jury in a 2014 gang-related shooting death of a 21-year-old man named Ryan Hernandez. In that case, prosecutors had alleged Sloan-Diaz was the getaway driver. After his death, police sources confirmed that a significant quantity of crack cocaine was found on his person. Despite this, friends and family of Sloan-Diaz disputed claims of his involvement in gang activity.
The case against Deonte Tomlinson proceeded to trial, where he was characterized as a reputed "hit man" for a rival gang. In June 2018, a jury found Tomlinson, then 20, guilty of murder and carrying a pistol without a permit. He faced a sentence of more than 60 years in prison for the midday slaying that authorities said had ignited a new wave of gang violence in Bridgeport. The swift arrest was credited to the detectives who happened to be nearby, their quick actions leading to the capture of the man responsible for Khalil Sloan-Diaz's death.
