Hunter shoots man to death

Police in Grand Gedeh County, southeast Liberia are investigating a traditional hunter who reportedly shot and killed a 32-year-old man before dawn on Tuesday, 19 September.

Report from the county says the victim had gone into the bush with a flashlight to pick wollor, a local seed used to prepare soup when the suspect Eric Towah saw the light from a distant and inadvertently took him for an animal and instantly discharged his single barrel gun, leaving the victim crying, “Oh! You kill me—O.”

The victim, who has been identified as a nephew of suspect Eric, was brought to town and rushed to hospital, but died subsequently, according to state broadcaster, LBS. The suspect is currently in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, facing police interrogation.

The situation of hunters mistaking human beings in the forest for animals and firing at them is common in most areas of rural Liberia, taking innocent lives. Liberia, endowed with rain forest, has various species of widelife, including elephants, monkeys, dear, and ground hog, among others that are killed by hunters both for consumption and commercial purpose.

The country has a reserved site, Sarpo National Park, in Sinoe County that has some of these species and restricted from the public.