Four bodyguards of the commissioner of Awerial County in Lakes State have been arrested for killing one person and injuring another.
The incident happened on Monday morning in Mingkaman market when the guards were attempting to arrest the relatives of a boy who had eloped with a girl in Awerial County.
The commissioner of Awerial County, Simon Jok Geng, admitted that his bodyguard, who was off duty, was involved in the incident but that he had no knowledge and had not authorized him to carry out any arrests.
“Yes, Somebody kidnapped a girl for 18 days and we tried to capture the brother and mother of the boy who kidnapped the girl so they are now in prison, but the parents of the girl who eloped were still demanding that others be arrested,” Commissioner Jok said. “Yesterday before this incident, I talked to the chief to look for the girl instead of the continuous arrests but the parents of the girl did not accept what I told them.”
He said that on Monday morning the relatives of the girl who eloped went to town and found the person who had kidnapped their daughter and they called one of his bodyguards to help arrest him.
“When those who eloped with the girl saw her parents, they started to fight and this is where this officer of mine started to shoot to separate the fight. He shot two people and one has now died and the other still okay,” Commissioner Jok explained. “Since all these happened, this officer did not inform me that he is going to capture people. He even came and took my vehicle without informing me.”
He said he has ordered for the arrests of his bodyguards and the parents of the girl and boy who eloped.
“I want to talk with the parents of the deceased because the incident happened in the wrong way. We have not planned that any person should be killed or harassed. I want to advise them to leave the issue to law enforcement agencies to investigate. I don’t want another issue to occur again,” Jok cautioned.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Bol Tier, the chief inspector of police in Awerial County, attributed the fracas and eventual killing to elopement.
“The soldiers are the bodyguards of the commissioner. They just went for the mission without instructions from the commissioner. They even used his car. Even the chief of police did not give them orders. So now we have arrested four of the commissioner’s bodyguards and the brother and uncle of the girl and detained them in jail,” police inspector Tier said.
“One person was shot dead and another shot and injured and is in the hospital now. The person who was killed is identified as Mabil Maker and the other who was wounded is called Mangou. It was a problem of a girl,” Inspector Tier added.
He said that after the arrests, the situation has returned to normal.