The Liberia National Police is investigating one of its officers, Inspector David S. Fayiah, for reportedly shooting to death 19-year-old civilian, Manoba Mohammed, around the Banjor Gas Station in Brewerville, outside Monrovia.
Police Inspector General Gregory O. W. Coleman revealed on Sunday that said incident occurred on August 3, 2024, at approximately 21:00 while officer Fayiah was already off-duty.
“This officer was not a firearm carrier in the Liberia National Police. This incident is not one that occurred as a result of delivery of law enforcement services,” he said.
Inspector General Coleman said preliminary reports indicate that a confrontation between Inspector Fayiah and Mr. Mohammed resulted in the discharge of the officer’s personal firearm.
“What we know at this point in time is that there was a verbal exchange; he drove off, turned around, came back to the victim; the victim was fleeing; he pointed the weapon that he had and shot the victim in the back,” the Police I.G said.
Following the discharge of the weapon, Inspector Fayiah reportedly fled the scene but was later arrested by police. “We arrested him and worked throughout last night to ensure we retrieve the murder weapon. It is not a government registered weapon; it is an illegal weapon that has initiated a whole different investigation as to how that particular weapon entered this country,” he added.
IG Coleman said there were lots of illegal weapons brought into the country over the last few years, stressing that it is the responsibility of the police to retrieve those illegal weapons.
“There are different measures put in place for people to bring them forward but until that can happen, we will be aggressively pursuing people who are carrying these illegal weapons including officers,” he noted.
