New Haven’s first homicide victim of 2012 met the same fate his cousin met three months earlier.
Police found Thomas “TJ” Mozell (pictured) slumped over the wheel of an SUV parked near the corner of County and Munson streets Saturday morning. He’d been shot in the head; he was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 19 years old. Police released his name Tuesday morning.
Mozell’s cousin was Dallas Boomer. Someone shot Boomer repeatedly in the early morning of Dec. 6; police found his bullet-ridden body inside a crashed Chevy on Willis Street. Police said the alleged killer shot Boomer in a dispute over an Audi.
His cousin TJ Mozell was out of town at the time, according to Lt. Thaddeus Reddish, Newhallville’s top cop. His mother had sent him south to try to keep him out of trouble.
“She really tried hard to keep him out of the gang life,” Reddish said Tuesday.
But Mozell returned to town recently, Reddish said. And he was a marked man. Mozell was believed to have carried out a number of shootings. The word was that revenge was being planned.
Police are in the early stages of investigating his murder.
Paul Bass Photo
Memorial to Mozell on County Street.