An eight-year old boy has been shot and killed in the Liberian capital Monrovia in a shoot-out between police officers and a soldier they were trying to arrest, press reports said Wednesday.
Luseni Sanyon was killed by a stray bullet Tuesday as two police officers opened fire on an army captain accused of stealing an officer's boots and insulting the police, the Inquirer and News said.
The captain, known as "Big Boy," and the officers exchanged fire for fifteen minutes, eyewitnesses told the papers.
The shoot-out caused panic as stall holders at a nearby market fled in terror. Schools in the area were hurriedly closed down for the day.
"Big Boy" later gave himself in. He was not injured in the shooting.
The victim was the only surviving child out of a family of 13.
The incident is the latest in a series of shootouts between rival security forces in Liberia, which was wracked by civil war between 1989 and 1997.
In April this year, the defense minister had to intervene to stop clashes between government soldiers and police officers in the city center -- MONROVIA (AFP)
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