Monrovia – Child Rights advocate, Abraham Keita, wants the President of Interpol, Kim Jong Yang, intervene in the recent Kingsville shooting incident that led to the death of a minor.
On Monday, June 24, residents of Kingsville #7 Community in rural Montserrado County, outside Monrovia, staged a protest in demand of justice for the mysterious death of two children – Thomas Kollie, 10, and Elijah Porluma, 9.
The citizens’ action was a protest meant to stand up against the injustice meted against those innocent children.
During the protest staged by residents, live gun shots were fired by police officers, injuring three young men – Abraham Tumay, 17 yrs old, Saah Saah, 18 yrs old, and Dave Mombo, 18 yrs old.
Keita’s call to the head of Interpol is contained in a letter he sent to Mr. Kim Jong Yang.
According to Keita, the shooting of live bullets at citizens is a replica of the 2014 shooting incident in West Point that led to the death of 15-year-old Shakie Kamara, while Titus Noah and Sylvester Kromah were seriously wounded in the stomach and legs, respectively.
Abraham Tumay (Tommy), a 17-year-old, was taken to the Du-side Hospital (Firestone Medical Center) in Margibi County and died on the 25th of June after sustaining skull fracture and brain damage as a result of the gun shots – medical reports and doctors confirmed. It must be made clear that little Abraham Tummy was not one of the protesters.
Keita wondered why police officers would shoot bullets at citizens for exercising their democratic franchise. He described the police action as a “horror-inducing”, and signals the advent of a policed state – in which the police force will be a “container of killers, gangsters and thugs”.
The Child Rights advocate said the Liberia National Police is walking down a road that instills fear in Liberians and foreign nationals alike.
Keita claimed the most recent engagements with citizens have created some dark cloud, and making many to wonder whether the LNP is protecting or saving lives, or rather take away them.
“Truth is, the amount of time, energy and effort exerted by the Liberian police force to harass citizens, if half of that could be used to enforce the rule of law, chase armed robbers, arrest drug dealers, and fight crimes, Liberia would be the safest place in this world,” he said.
At a press conference Monday, July 1, Keita called on the Liberian Government to make a full report into the Kingsville shooting. He had threatened that if the government didn’t come up with a full scale report from their investigation by Friday, July 5, the children of Liberia will have no other option but to take to the streets to protest until something concrete can be heard.
“We want to unequivocally state that the Government of Liberia has up to Friday, the 5th of July, to make public its probe into the Kingsville shooting and the shooters be identified, made public and forwarded for prosecution under our laws. Failure to adhere to this demand will lead to a series of peaceful protest actions by the children of Liberia until justice prevails.”
According to Kingsville residents, the police forensic team intervened and conducted an autopsy when the two kids’ lifeless bodies were discovered.
Subsequently, four men were arrested in connection to the kids’ mysterious deaths.
To the dismay of the residents, the four men arrested were released without any information to the community from the police and the local authorities of the county.
Keita, a Nobel Peace laureate, assured the children and young people of Liberia that this time around ‘it would not be business as usual’.
“This time will not be the same old story. This madness and wickedness of state security officers shooting and killing unarmed citizens has got to stop. We can no longer condone such barbaric act from any police officer or soldier or any government security apparatus. The West Point shooting incident was enough to beat some sense into the police.”