Major General Elia Costa, Police Commissioner in Jonglei State - (Photo: Courtesy).

Police in Jonglei State have arrested a man believed to have shot dead two children on 30 May over a marital disagreement in Bor County.

The state police commissioner Maj. Gen Elia Costa said prime suspect Chol Ayen, 46, killed two male minors in Langbaar area in Bor town on Tuesday.

“On May 30, 2023 at 8 pm, I received a call that a young man shot two kids in the house. The man called Chol Ayen, 46 years,” Costa said.

The incident was allegedly triggered by a dispute over a marriage negotiation.

Details of the incident are obscure and could not be independently verified.

However, General Costa said he has learned that a relative of the suspect expressed interest to marry a girl who is already engaged to another man.

The police chief narrates that after the man’s side was rejected and told the girl is betrothed to another man, the failed marriage negotiation then transpired into a bitter disagreement and conflict.

Out of rage, the middle-aged man reportedly stormed the house of the bride in question, and shot dead her two juvenile brothers.

Costa said the victims; Aleer Makuol, 12, and Malang Akuel, 13, were in their father’s house when the middle-aged man approached at gunpoint and killed them.

“He attacked those children in the house of their father in an area called Langbaar in Bor County. The reason for the killing is the marriage issue. I think his brother or one of the relatives wants to marry a girl from that house.”

This is not the first time a marriage-related issue has resulted in conflict in Bor.

Last month, Police in Bor of Jonglei State said a young man burned down the house of the father of a boy who allegedly impregnated his sister.