Christian Malanga, a former Utah car salesman with eight children and a businessman and politician from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, died Sunday while he allegedly led an attempt to topple the DRC government, according to news reports.
Malanga moved from the DRC to the United States as part of a refugee resettlement program in the late 1990s and attended Highland High School in Salt Lake City, according to his Facebook page. He went on to work as a car salesman in Utah, where he raised a family, the New York Post reported.
Malanga’s son, Marcel, a former football player at Copper Hills High School in West Jordan, Utah, was arrested for allegedly taking part in the coup attempt, the Post reported.
“This was an innocent boy following his father,” Marcel’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, said in a Facebook post, according to the Post.
“My son is innocent,” she wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Monday, ABC News reported.
DRC officials told ABC News that the coup attempt was led by Christian Malanga, who was described as a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen by an DRC army spokesman, according to Barron’s. The military said the coup took place near the offices of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, the nation’s capital.
The Post said Christian Malanga returned to his native country to serve as an officer fighting rebels. Forced into exile in 2012 following an initial coup attempt, he referred to himself as president of the “New Zaire” government, the Post said.
Christian Malanga live-streamed video from the presidential palace during the coup and was killed while resisting arrest, Congolese authorities told the Post. Marcel Malanga was seen in the video, which was posted on his father’s Facebook page.
Barron’s reported that witnesses described about 40 people in at least seven vehicles attacking the home of Economy Minister Vital Kamerhe. The attackers used drones and automatic weapons. Kamerhe’s guards held off the attack for an hour, when security forces arrived. Two of the minister’s guards were killed, as were two attackers, according to news reports..
Christian Malanga was killed in a gun battle with presidential guards at the presidential palace, the army spokesman told CNN.
Malanga’s Facebook page said he was the president of the United Congolese Party, which describes itself as an “opposition political party-in-exile.” On Saturday he posted twice on Facebook, each time writing “New Zaire.”
“We, the militants, are tired. We cannot drag on with Tshisekedi and Kamerhe, they have done too many stupid things in this country,” Christian Malanga said in Lingala in the Facebook video, according to Reuters, which said it had not independently verified the video.
Tshisekedi was re-elected for a second term as president in December, but has yet to name a government, six weeks after appointing a prime minister, Reuters reported.
Kamerhe was a candidate for speaker of parliament in an election. The election for that post had been scheduled for Saturday but was delayed by Tshisekedi.
Video from after the coup showed Marcel Malanga looking terrified with his hands raised while surrounded by Congolese soldiers, the Post reported.