Man stabs security officer to death

Dozens of marketers and ordinary members of the public who were going about their normal businesses ran helter-skelter when a man in his mid-30s, believed to be a coconut seller reportedly slashed the throat of a private security guard with a sharp knife, killing the victim instantly within the vicinity of Kebbeh Freeman Gas Station in Red Light, Paynesville outside Monrovia.

An eyewitness, Dennis Marshall, narrated to The New Dawn that the incident which occurred on Saturday, February 18, started when confusion ensued between the late private security guard only identified as Beyan and the suspect over disposal of garbage near the filling station.

He continued that the deceased had on numerous occasions warned the suspect to stop dumping coconut dirt in the vicinity of the gas station, but he refused to adhere.
Dennis said despite the warning from Beyan, the suspect returned to the gas station to again dump coconut dirt when he was prevented by the security officer, noting that the coconut seller suddenly got enraged and threatened the victim in the presence of several onlookers, some of whom also do business around the Kebbeh Freeman Gas Station.

He added that while officer Beyan wasn’t paying attention, the suspect allegedly pulled a long knife that he usually used to peel the coconuts for his customers and stabbed the victim deep in his throat before pulling the knife down with force thereby causing the deceased to bleed profusely and subsequently gave up the ghost on the spot.
According to the eyewitness, after observing that officer Beyan was bleeding profusely, the accused immediately escaped the scene and headed for his residence in Paynesville.

However, he was apprehended on Sunday, 19 February by the Liberia National Police (LNP) after a man from whom the accused usually rent wheelbarrow to carry on his coconut trade, led the police to the suspect’s residence where police arrested and subsequently reminded him at the Monrovia Central Prison Compound, pending trial.
In a related development, police in Paynesville have also arrested a suspect (name not disclosed) for killing a man in Thinker Village, on the Roberts field highway.

Reports gathered revealed that the accused reportedly pulled the two feet of the victim, while he was inattentive, trying to intervene in a misunderstanding that ensued between the suspect and a women over electric wire.
It was also gathered that the unidentified woman had complained about constant theft of her electric wire by unknown individuals, not until she spotted the accused tempering with her wire when she requested the assistance of some of her neighbors to help inquire from the doer what was he doing on her light pole.

It was at that moment when the accused attacked the unsuspected victim by pulling his legs from under him thereby smashing his head on the concrete floor, leaving him to bleed profusely.
Prior to the bleeding, the deceased reportedly became mentally unbalanced when blood ran into his brain the following day, but died upon arrival at the James M. David Memorial Hospital in Neezoe, Paynesville City.
The alleged attacker has since been arrested and detained by the Liberia National Police, pending court trial.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne