Yuon Malual: South Sudanese Refugee Killed in ArapCo Shooting

Yuon Malual (9News | handout)

A refugee who fled from war in Sudan was shot to death early Monday in the parking lot of his Arapahoe County apartment complex.

Friends said Yuon Malual was returning home from his job working on public transit buses at about 3 a.m. Monday when he was shot. The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said Malual was found dead in his sport-utility vehicle by deputies responding to a 911 call from the 1100 block of South Xenia Street. A Sheriff’s Office news release spelled Malual’s first name as Youn.

No suspects have been identified, and the motive behind the killing has so far eluded investigators.

“It’s a very tragic death,” said Gatwec Dengpathot, a Sudanese refugee community organizer and friend of the family. “He did not have any enemies. He was a family guy.”

Malual is survived by a wife and five kids, ages 2 to 17, Malual’s nephew Mayor Guem said. Malual, 43, was an attentive father, willing to help his children with homework or walk them to the school bus, neighbors said.

“His job and his kids, that’s the way it was,” Guem said.

Dengpathot said Malual and his family resettled in Denver six years ago after escaping war in what is now South Sudan. Friends said Malual was ecstatic earlier this year when South Sudan gained independence from Sudan, ending the civil war that forced Malual to flee.

Dengpathot said Malual worked hard to provide for his family, and he said the killing shows how refugees’ industriousness can make them targets for violence in their adopted land.

“We escaped war in Sudan; we thought we are safe out here,” Dengpathot said. “And then somebody is getting killed in their parking lot.”

Guem said Malual’s wife was waiting in the family’s apartment — just steps from the parking lot — for her husband to come home when the shooting happened. Family members and friends began arriving to offer support as early as 4 a.m., he said. The sounds of wailing spilled out the apartment’s open door mid-day.

Neighbor Adrien Matadi said he and Malual always greeted each other in Arabic and said Malual was usually smiling.

“How could somebody just take the head of a family, having five kids, like this?” Matadi asked. “This is a disaster. This is really painful.”

John Ingold: 303-954-1068 orjingold@denverpost.com.

Man found dead in SUV in Arapahoe County

DENVER—A 43-year-old man is dead in an apparent homicide near Denver.The Arapahoe County sheriff’s office said the body of 43-year-old Youn Malual was found in a gold-colored sport-utility vehicle around 3 a.m. on Monday. Authorities say he had been shot once in the head.

Bureau Chief Bruce Williamson said there are no suspects and no apparent motive for the shooting.

Williamson said the victim was an immigrant from Africa. The investigation was initially hampered by the language barrier but he said investigators were able to find a translator.

KDVR-TV reported that the victim was an immigrant from Sudan and that neighbors said he worked for a cleaning company.