In the quiet shore town of Long Branch, New Jersey, the final moments of 2017 were shattered by a tragedy that would forever haunt the Kologi family. Just before the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, 18-year-old Brittany Kologi, a young woman full of promise, was killed in her family home. A freshman at Stockton University, Brittany was home for the holidays, her life cut short in an act of violence that also claimed the lives of her parents, Steven and Linda Kologi, and a long-time family
friend, Mary Ann Schulz.
The events of that night unfolded with chilling speed. Less than twenty minutes before the new year, police responded to a 911 call from the Kologi residence on Wall Street. Inside, they discovered a scene of unimaginable horror. Brittany, her parents, and Schulz had all been shot and killed with a semi-automatic rifle. The sole suspect, Brittany's then 16-year-old brother, Scott Kologi, was taken into custody at the scene without incident. Two other family members, Brittany's grandfather and another brother, were also in the house but managed to escape unharmed.
In the aftermath, a community was left grappling with the shock and searching for answers. Scott Kologi was charged as an adult with four counts of first-degree murder and a weapons offense. During his trial, his defense attorneys argued that he suffered from severe mental illness. However, the prosecution presented evidence that the killings were premeditated, stating that he had lured his mother upstairs before shooting her, then shot his father when he came to investigate. He then proceeded downstairs to kill his sister and the family friend.
Ultimately, a jury found Scott Kologi guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to 150 years in state prison, a term that ensures he will likely never be a free man again. The judge, in delivering the sentence, called the acts 'evil' and expressed the intention that the defendant never see the outside of a jail cell again. The devastating event left a permanent scar on the Long Branch community and a family torn apart by an inexplicable act of violence.
