Burngreave: Shocking murder of teenage boy in Sheffield gang war still unsolved after 15 years

The assassination of 16-year-old Jonathan Matondo in October 2007 horrified Sheffield and the gun attack made national headlines.

He was blasted in his head on the Nottingham Cliff recreation ground in Burngreave.

When news of the murder first broke, Jonathan was described as a youngster who had dreamed of becoming a preacher.

He had been a regular at bible school at the Light of Christ Church every Sunday and had taught other children and adults.

MORE: Why murder of 16-year-old boy in Sheffield suburb remains unsolved

Having moved to Sheffield with his family from a civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo when he was a young child, he had acted as an interpreter at the church.

But in the months before his death he had stopped attending as his involvement in a city gang deepened.

The aspiring rapper, known as Venomous and Vendawg, is believed to have been killed as part of a so-called ‘postcode gang’ war.

Although nobody is behind bars for his murder, the findings of the police probe into the killing were detailed in court when a suspect was prosecuted and later cleared of any involvement.

Evidence aired during the trial backed up accounts from residents of armed gangs on the streets of the city suburb and tit-for-tat attacks.

The killing in October 2007 led to South Yorkshire Police chiefs revealing that armed gangs operating in Burngreave and Pitsmoor were involved in a long-running feud.

Known as the S3 and S4 gangs, based on neighbouring Sheffield postcodes, they were responsible for a series of serious crimes including gun attacks and stabbings around that time.

In the two years before Jonathan’s murder, police compiled a dossier of 38 incidents involving the gangs, with investigations leading to the recovery of six guns.

Early on in the murder probe, detectives established that Jonathan, of Verdon Street, Burngreave, was a member of the S3 gang.

He had been known to carry a gun and a blade.

Detectives believe the teen was targeted in retaliation for a shooting at a house belonging to relatives of an S4 member the night before.

There was a failed attempt on Jonathan's life a few hours before he was killed, when shots were fired at him while he visited a friend's flat.

But he was finally killed when he was shot in his head from a distance of around 60ft by a gun with a red laser device attached to pinpoint the target.

The same gun used to kill Jonathan had been used to fire at another S3 member's home two months earlier.

South Yorkshire Police said at the time that it was believed a number of people were involved in the murder and plot to kill and that officers would ‘relentlessly pursue’ all of those involved.

They said Jonathan was ‘targeted and ruthlessly killed’ in an ‘organised and planned attack’.

Nobody has been arrested since the failed prosecution of one former suspect.

Anyone with information should call South Yorkshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.