Police probe continues after boy, 16, is shot in Sheffield - everything known about murder

It was a crime which sent shockwaves through Sheffield and revealed a deadly gang war involving the city’s teenagers.
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Jonathan Matondo was 16 when he was shot dead on a recreation ground in Burngreave in October 2007.

Fourteen years later, the teenager’s murder remains unsolved.

Jonathan Matondo was shot dead in Burngreave, Sheffield, in 2007Jonathan Matondo was shot dead in Burngreave, Sheffield, in 2007
Jonathan Matondo was shot dead in Burngreave, Sheffield, in 2007
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Jonathon, known on the streets as ‘Venemous’, was shot in his head on the Nottingham Cliff recreation ground in what detectives described as a ‘postcode gang’ war.

Two rival groups, S3 and S4, operated in Burngreave and neighbouring Pitsmoor at that time, and Jonathan was entrenched in the S3 gang.

Jonathan, who moved to Sheffield with his family as an aslylum seeker when he was six years old to escape a civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was known to carry a knife and a gun.

The murder of 16-year-old Jonathan Matondo in Burngreave, Sheffield, triggered a huge police investigationThe murder of 16-year-old Jonathan Matondo in Burngreave, Sheffield, triggered a huge police investigation
The murder of 16-year-old Jonathan Matondo in Burngreave, Sheffield, triggered a huge police investigation

His killing shocked his family, who had believed he had wanted to become a Christian pastor, but Jonathan led a double life and despite attending church was an active gang member.

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It is thought that he was shot in retaliation for a gun being fired at a house belonging to relatives of an S4 gang member the night before.

Just a few hours before Jonathan's murder there was a failed attempt on his life when shots were fired at him as he visited a friend's flat on Melrose Road, Pitsmoor.

Investigations revealed that the same gun used to kill Jonathan had been used to fire at another S3 member’s home two months earlier.

Jonathan Matondo was 16 when he was shot in what detectives believe was a feud between warring gangs in SheffieldJonathan Matondo was 16 when he was shot in what detectives believe was a feud between warring gangs in Sheffield
Jonathan Matondo was 16 when he was shot in what detectives believe was a feud between warring gangs in Sheffield

One man stood trial over the murder twice. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict the first time and found him not guilty the second time the case was heard at Sheffield Crown Court.

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Detectives always stressed that they had believed a number of people were involved in the killing and said they would ‘relentlessly pursue’ them but to date nobody else has ever been charged.

During the trials, South Yorkshire Police revealed that at that time the force had compiled a dossier of 38 incidents involving the gangs and recovered six guns.

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Jonathan’s murder was one of three linked to the S3 postcode gang within the space of a year.

S3 member Brett Blake, 23, was stabbed to death on the dance floor of Uniq nightclub on Carver Street in Sheffield city centre in June 2008 in an attack involving two life-long friends – Danny Hockenhull and Curtis Goring.

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Detectives who investigated the murder said it was the result of the gang imploding.

The following month, Tarek Chaiboub, 17, from Wincobank, was shot dead in an attack ordered by a fellow S3 member while behind bars.

The teenager was blamed for passing on information which led to an attack on another S3 member.

Nigel Junior Ramsey, who, was known as 'The General' and ran the younger element of the S3 gang, ordered Tarek's murder from behind bars – instructing his younger brother Denzil Ramsey, his next door neighbour Levan Menzies and friend Michael Chattoo, to carry out the killing.

Tarek was shot in at Frenchie's barbers in Spital Street, Burngreave, and his killers were jailed for a total of 110 years.