Crime barricade tape. | Courtesy.

An SSPDF soldier in Western Equatoria State has been detained for killing a National Security Service (NSS) officer in Yambio County on Sunday morning, the commissioner said.

Yambio Commissioner Mbiko Barakat said the army officer, who is alleged to be a member of the regional forces bound for the aborted DRC peacekeeping mission, shot and killed 30-year-old David Charles at 9 AM on September 1 after the two quarreled.

Mr. Barakat narrated that the servicemen were involved in an unspecified dispute at a military barrack, prompting the suspect to flee the camp with his weapon.

According to the commissioner, when a unit was sent to arrest the lone soldier, he opened fire and killed the NSS officer.

The official said the suspect was then arrested and is being detained at the barrack pending an investigation. Barakat said the situation has now been contained.

“Currently the security situation in Yambio is stable, there was a problem caused by one of the members of the SSPDF who had a dispute with some individuals inside the military barrack,” Barakat told Eye Radio, in an interview.

“He (suspect) left the camp carrying a weapon until he reached a place called Masia. Some members of the regular forces followed him to find out what the problem was, so he shot a member of the National Security Service named David Charles, and killed him instantly.”

Commissioner Barakat said he obtained information from the military leadership that the suspect might have been intoxicated with marijuana.

He added: “It is clear that the murder was not motivated, but rather a mistake.”

The incident occurred after a number of such gun-related violence in Yambio where an SSPDF soldier was killed and four others were wounded between 22nd August and 25th August.

An alliance of civil society organizations in the state condemned the series of violence and emphasized gun control in the town as well as disarmament of civilians.