By Martha Louis – EM TV News, Lae
Police shot a young man identified by his relatives as Thomas Kela, from Ialibu in the Southern Highlands province, this morning.
Relatives of the deceased said police were pursuing criminals in a blue, 10-seater vehicle. The relatives stated that the police were shooting at the criminals when Kela was shot in the chest.
Relatives of the young man killed carried his body, and walked from Angau Hospital to the Lae Police Station in protest. They were demanding an answer from the police.
Matthew Iremandi, brother of the deceased, said he was a Grade 12 student at Ialibu Secondary School.
He had come down to Lae three days ago, looking to apply for a space at Balob Teachers College.
Police were pursuing a 10-seater vehicle with several suspects armed with homemade guns towards Bumbu settlement area.
The suspects were believed to have been involved in a robbery at Fone Haus, located along the PNG Post Air Corps Road.
Another incident yesterday involved an alleged police shooting, at around the same time of the first incident. Police have already met with the deceased relatives this morning.
Lae Metropolitan Commander, Anthony Wagambie Jnr, said police are treating these two cases as separate incidents. He assured relatives they will look into this incident.
He said investigations have already started. However, at this stage police are not able to draw links between the two incidents and will treat them as two separate cases.
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