MONROVIA – The Liberia National Police (LNP) has shot and killed an alleged armed robber who was among a gang of five in the Brewerville Community, outside Monrovia.
According to the police, the incident occurred over the weekend at about 22:30pm, when the anti-robbery team were patrolling the Brewerville Store community when they came in contact with a group of five men carrying a single barrel pistol, cutlasses, knives and other dangerous instruments.
The police say when they intercepted the men, they immediately opened fire on the patrol team leading to an exchange of fire.
“In the process of exchange of gun fire between the robbers and the police one of the armed robbers was shot in the stomach. The medical team from JFK Hospital went on the scene took the suspect to JFK where he was pronounced dead on arrival. We are on the manhunt for the rest of the gang members,” the police said.
This is the second killing of an alleged armed robber by the LNP in just a week.
Last week, the Inspector General of Police, Col. Patrick Sudue expressed dismay over the courts releasing criminals who remanded at the Monrovia Central Prison back into the communities.
“The release of these criminals by the court is causing serious problems for the Police and the community. One Kessely Mulbah was released by the court in the same way, when he came back in the community, he killed a member of Kapaukapau night watch team in Keba and was again shot by the LNP anti-robbery squad in the leg, treated and sent back to the court and he was sent to South Beach prison,” Col. Sudue said.
The Inspector General of the Liberia National Police expressed this over the weekend when the anti-robbery squad of the LNP gunned down an infamous armed robber, Ben Roberts, aka ‘Bad Man Roberts’, who once arrested in 2008, sentenced in 2009 but it remains unknown he got out of prison.
‘Bad Man Roberts’ was killed in a brutal ex-change of fire with the police leaving a senior officer of the LNP anti-robbery unit, Chief. Supt. Alphonso Yarkpa, shot in the leg – fracturing a bone.
Roberts was pronounced dead at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center while Supt. Yarkpa is undergoing treatment at the same hospital. A pistol with several rounds of ammunitions and other deadly weapons were retrieved from him.
According to the Inspector General of Police, Col. Patrick Sudue, the gang leader was the leader of the famous Isakaba which was established in 2006 in West Point. The group is well known for terrorizing people with guns, cutlasses and other deadly weapon in Central Monrovia and its environs.
He went to jail in 2009 but resurfaced in the communities at the end of 2020 and reorganized the group, according to Col. Sudue.
“We don’t’ know how he was released after being sentenced,” the Police chief said.
The gang under the leadership of ‘Bad Man Roberts’ has since been involved with series of armed robberies, including:
On January 5, they robbed one Janet Bartuah in Harmon Field, Du-port Road community. In that incident, two of the robbers Cooper Harris and Moses Fiah were
shot in the right hip and right leg, respectively by the LNP anti-robbery squad. They are presently taking treatment at the JFK Hospital and are expected to be discharged on Tuesday. They will be turned over to the LNP for prosecution. Another of them were arrested and forwarded to court for prosecution.