Contributed
Judkins on the court.
On the Lincoln-Bassett courts, he was known as “Mango” who “got right” with a winning team. In the recording studio, where he was known as “Young Klean,” he found “time to heal.”
His real name was Michael Judkins. He was shot dead Monday on Thompson Street. Because he knew so many people around town, police are now concerned that someone else might get shot in retaliation.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson pleaded with the public Tuesday not to retaliate — and to help cops solve the homicide.
He made the plea, and offered updates on the case, at a press conference held at police headquarters at 1 Union Ave.
“There’s the potential, since Michael was beloved, for retaliation,” said Jacobson, who played basketball with Judkins in the summer basketball tournaments held on the courts outside Lincoln Bassett School.
“I’m asking everyone involved in this to not retaliate. … One of the biggest stoppers of retaliation is solving this homicide. Someone needs to come forward. Please help us with this homicide.”
Judkins was shot multiple times on Thompson between Shelton Avenue and Newhall Street Monday just after 1 p.m. He later died at the hospital. A second New Haven man was shot in the leg; that injury was described as non-life-threatening.
“This is definitely group-related violence,” and the shootings were “targeted,” the chief said. The groups involved in the incident had been “beefing” over “stolen jewelry,” Jacobson said. Investigators are still working to determine precisely what spurred the shootings, which are believed to have stemmed from a dispute.
Underscoring the chief’s concern, police arrested a man on gun charges Tuesday at around 5 a.m. Police had already been investigating the arrestee, who was “close to” Monday’s fatal shooting and was believed to have the potential of participating in retaliation, Jacobson said. “We wanted to move quickly.”
(Police ask witnesses to call them at 203 – 946-6304. Callers may remain anonymous or submit tips anonymously by calling 1 – 866-888-TIPS(8477), or text “NHPD plus your message” to 274637 (CRIMES).)
Judkins’ killing was the eighth New Haven homicide recorded so far in 2022, compared to 19 at this time last year.
The "Get Right" Squad
Judkins grew up in Newhallville. He did have arrests on his record, Jacobson said, but “his history” was much more than that.
Since he was 12 or 13, Judkins competed each summer in the weekly Sunday basketball tournaments, according to Newhallville Neighborhood Corporation’s Gary Gates, who has organized the community events for 20 years. (Read about this year’s version in this previous article.)
“He was a great kid,” Gates said Tuesday. He spoke of how he organizes the league to give young people a positive alternative outlet to street violence. “It’s a sad movement for us. We’re losing kids rapidly.”
Judkins, whose nickname in the games was Mango, played on the squad called “Get Right.” Click here to read about how the team made it to this year’s final round of the tournament.
Chief Jacobson and other cops have played in the tournament and hung out with the families gathered there for years. Jacobson said he came to know Judkins’ mother, as well, through the events, and delivered the news of her son’s death to her personally.
Judkins was also active for the past six years in the rap world, where he recorded dozens of tracks under the name “Young Klean.” Click here and here to sample his recorded tracks on Spotify and Soundcloud.
He did some of his recording at a studio located in the Ashmun Street headquarters of the CT Violence Intervention Project (CT VIP).
“He was working on trying to be a producer along with rapping. We were working on a project to bring people together, from every hood, to make a unified track,” said Leonard Jahad, who runs CT VIP. “He was always polite, nice. He wanted to bring people together.”
Last fall he released a track called “Time To Heal.” The song “arose from the grief that followed the loss of some close friends and family members,” Sam Hadelman wrote in this New Haven Arts Paper article about Judkins’s rap career. Hadelman described the song as “part confessional, part evolution, and full of heart and honesty” in this article about Judkins’s rap career. (Click here to hear the song.)
“Don’t know if I’m gonna make it,” Judkins raps on the track. “Only time will tell.”
Recent Arrests Detailed
Also at Tuesday’s press conference, Assistant Chief David Zannelli and Capt. John Healy described recent arrests the police have made. Click on the above video to hear the descriptions of those arrests.
Some involved weapons; the police have made 149 gun-related arrests so far this year, compared to 133 at this point last year. They have recovered 37 assemble-at-home untraceable “ghost guns,” compared to four at this point last year.
In one of the incidents, police rescued a man who was speaking of leaping off a downtown building to his death. It took an hour and a half to do that; the officers “bought the man breakfast” afterwards, Zannelli said.
Zannelli also described an incident involved a barricaded man inside a house on Frank Street who had threatened to “blow up the police department.” Officers worked with the SWAT and hostage negotiations team as well as the Connecticut Mental Health Center to eventually coax the man outside. “No force was used,” he said.
Meanwhile, the department’s community outreach efforts are continuing with events like the latest “coffee with a cop” gathering held Monday with Dwight neighbors. Later Monday, new Hill top cop Sgt. Jasmine Sanders (pictured above) and fellow officers handed out free school supplies (below) at a family event held at the Congress Avenue substation across from John C. Daniels School.
