Bomi Shooting Was a Practice

The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Justice, has clarified that the recent shooting in Sass Town, Bomi County as a practice. The government said the suspect associated with the incident which occurred nearly a month ago, is yet to be identified.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Federick Cherue indicated that though the incident created fear among citizens across the country, the motive is still unknown, and that investigation was on going. Minister Cherue told a weekly MICAT news briefing yesterday, September 6, 2016 at the Information Ministry in Capitol Hill in Monrovia that there was a shooting in that occurred in the county, but such incident was reported by state intelligence to be a practice by ‘an unidentified individual who is yet to be identified.

“On August 7 of last month, we received information that there was a shooting in Bomi County, and immediately, in my capacity as Minister of Justice, I went with heads of other security institutions, including the BIN, LNP, as well as NSA, among others, to the where the shooting had occurred, but unfortunately, when we got there, our investigation told us that this shooter meant no harm; but rather, I think it was a practice, because when we got there, you could see five bottles lining up in a carton on a stand,” said the minister, further noting: “the witness who we met told us that he and his children were on the farm, where they saw three unknown men pass them, after which they heard the gun sound – something which got them afraid and they decided to leave.”

“We needed not to talk about this situation at this time, but looking at the current situation where many citizens have expressed concern on this issue, we decided to update the public on the status of this case,” he added.

The Minister of Justice told the MICAT news briefing that the reason why the government was in no hurry about the incident was because the incident was an isolated one and there was no need for the public to panic, saying “as Minister of Justice, when I received the information, I needed to digest it before releasing it to the public; in every situation that grabs the attention of  he public, it is always good to digest it before releasing, because any attempt to just hurriedly give information without thorough investigation, it becomes a problem for the government,” he said.

It can be recalled that during the late evening hours of Sunday, August 7, 2016, ive gun shots were heard in Sass Town – a few kilometers from the Po River Bridge in Brewerville, outside Monrovia, and that there was also movement of strange armed men in some parts of the area.
Bomi County Superintendent Samuel Brown confirmed the shooting, and said some of the residents were compelled to leave their various homes as a result of the suspicious shooting in the county.
Supt. Brown noted that though the identities of those behind the suspicious shooting incident remained unknown, a huge number of Joint Security personnel of the Government of Liberia had been deployed in
the area.-Edited by George Barpeen