By Yang Ater Yang
Police in Lakes State are holding a 6-year-old boy and his father over the shooting and wounding of a 24-year-old man in the Tit-Ruoc Village of Rumbek Central County.
Lakes State Police Spokesperson, Maj. Elijah Mabor Makuac, told this outlet that the incident occurred in the Tit-Ruoc area, whereby the 6-year-old boy identified as Dut Deng Gak accidentally shot and wounded the victim.
According to the information, the victim was from the Gak section of Pakam and was residing with his uncle from the Nielniel section.
Early in the morning, he released his cattle to head them to a nearby village.
He said the schoolboy just came around that young man, who was actually standing by with his Ak-47 rifle.
“He sat on a rifle, and the small boy came around him, played with him, and was in conversation with him. But later on, the child triggered the gun, leading to the shooting of the gun, wounding that young man in his buttocks and hand,” Maj. Makuac narrated.
According to the police spokesperson, the child ran at hearing the gunshot because he did not know what was going on as he was a very small child.
However, Maj. Makuac stated that the uncles of the victim immediately turned this incident into a clan grievance between the Gak and Nielniel sections.
He added that the Nielniel section launched an attack against the Gak section until they shot and wounded an 18-year-old boy in an attempt to kill him on a revenge mission for the wounded man.
But the police managed to intervene, and the boy was rescued after the revenge attempt.
“The women in the village took him and he was hidden in the bushes until the police arrived, and the women reported him to the police, and he was evacuated to Rumbek State Hospital together with the first victim, and the fighting group was actually dispersed by the police and their chiefs,” he said.
The police said the two victims are currently receiving treatment at Rumbek State Hospital, while the child was apprehended and is now in the police station being provided protection with his father.
“He is a very small child; just he triggered the gun, and actually he doesn’t know anything about that one, and he has been with us since the attack was launched yesterday against the other people,” Maj. Makuac noted.
He explained that the toddler is being remanded by the police, along with his father, for safety reasons.
“As police, our role is to provide protection, so that’s why we took him, and we accommodated him with us in the police station in Rumbek Central County for safety,” he lamented.
The child will remain in police custody until the case is forwarded to the court, or it will be decided by the authorities what to do for this small child.