ERU officer’s killer arrested

The Liberia National Police has reported the arrest of an amputated man, Emmanuel Gonpu, suspected for killing Officer Quency Cooper of the elite Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the LNP.

The incident reportedly occurred at suspect Gonpu’s entertainment center last week in Sophie Community, Congo Town – a Monrovia suburb where the late Officer Cooper and another ERU Officer had gone probably as friends or customers of the suspect.

Following the alleged murder of the ERU Officer mid last week, suspect Gonpu was immediately arrested by the other ERU officer on the scene. The incident raises more questions than answers, including how would a fellow ERU officer be present and his colleague is allegedly stabbed by a handicapped man without intervening, but only to effect arrest after the alleged attack or what led them to the suspect’s business center, and what actually transpired there that led to the reported attack, among others.

Gonpu, an ex-rebel fighter, allegedly told investigators he lost one of his legs while fighting in the Liberian Civil War. Police spokesman Sam Collins, says losing an ERU officer is a big setback for the LNP on grounds that the Unit is trained by Americans for whom the US State Department spent lot of money.

“And then to lose a single ERU Officer can be equated to losing 50 men within the service. So it will have a great gap within the unit,” Mr. Collins told reporters at the Liberian National Police Headquarters in Monrovia on Monday, November 23rd.

He claimed suspect Gonpu has already admitted to investigators in tears he (Gonpu) allegedly stabbed Officer Quency in the neck, attacking him from his back, but reason for the alleged attack was not provided.

According to the police, the suspect told investigators there had been no dispute between him and the victim prior to the killing. The police displayed a knife which the suspect is believed to have used in killing the ERU officer he claims to be his long-time friend.

But Collins says investigation is still ongoing and all of suspect Gonpu’s rights are protected up to the time his lawyer would answer to police charge.

By Winston W. Parley-Edited by Jonathan Browne