MANCHESTER, N.H. (WHDH) - A 20-year-old man who was found dead in a park in New Hampshire over the weekend died from a gunshot wound to the back, authorities said.
Officers responding to Derryfield Park in Manchester on Sunday morning found the body of Thamba Mbungu, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella and Manchester Police Chief Allen D. Aldenberg announced Monday.
An autopsy has since determined that Mbungu’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the back and that his manner of death is homicide.
“Overall he was just a really really great kid. The best personality I’ve ever seen in my life. He was my best friend,” said his brother Mbambi Mbungu.
Loved ones say he often went to that park to play soccer and dreamed of playing professionally one day. In 2018 he was named the New Hampshire State Soccer Player of the Year.
He moved to the U.S. from the Congo with his family in 2010 and planned to return in the winter to try out for a team.
“Him being gone at this young age; he really didn’t even have time to achieve his dreams. His dreams were taken away in the blink of an eye,” said Mbungu’s friend Jacob Chiza.
Mbungu’s “suspicious” death remains under investigation.
Anyone with information on his death is urged to contact Manchester police detectives at 603-668-8711.
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