$50,000 Reward Offered for Jakeem Tully Cold Case Information

Eighteen years have passed since a drive-by shooting outside a convenience store at 485 Albany Ave. claimed the life of Jakeem Tully.

The Hartford 15-year-old was just three weeks away from his 16th birthday when he was killed, according to reports from ctmissingpeople.substack.com.

Jakeem was a talented athlete who played both football and basketball, and he was an aspiring computer technician.

His mother told the Hartford Courant that he had been particularly looking forward to getting his driver’s license.

Instead, he died after walking his girlfriend home around 2 a.m. on July 20, 2008.

Jakeem was not the intended target of the gunfire, but he was struck in the upper arm and chest.

He fell to the ground only a few blocks from his home, and no one called for help as he lay bleeding.

Two strangers driving by eventually saw him, carried him into their vehicle, and rushed him to St. Francis Hospital.

They called Jakeem’s mother while en route to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead less than a half-hour later.

His mother did not arrive in time to see him before he passed away.

The shooting was not an isolated incident for Jakeem during that summer.

In that earlier incident, Jakeem sustained minor injuries, but the driver of the vehicle was severely hurt and later paralyzed.

Police identified both the July 2008 shooting and the prior incident as gang-related, stemming from attempts by rival groups to avenge previous killings.

Jakeem’s death was the third fatal shooting in Hartford during that same July weekend.

Then-Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez stated at the time that “loosely organized street crews” were operating in the area where Jakeem was found.

In response to the ongoing violence, Hartford instituted a 30-day emergency curfew for anyone under 18 in August 2008, though shootings continued.

Investigators eventually determined that Jakeem had no prior criminal record and was not involved with any gangs.

He had simply been near the wrong groups of people during both shootings.

The individual who pulled the trigger on that July night has never been caught.

The identity of Jakeem’s killer remains a mystery to investigators and his family.

The state of Connecticut is currently offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

In an effort to bring attention to the case, Jakeem’s face was included in the 2017 edition of the state’s Cold Case playing cards, which are distributed in correctional facilities to help solve unresolved cases.

Anyone with information regarding the shooting is encouraged to contact the Hartford Police Major Crimes Unit at 860-757-4000.

The Cold Case Unit can also be reached at 1-866-623-8058 or via email at [email protected].