PHOTO: Late EPS Officer Melvin Earley
By Frank Sainworla, Jr., fsainworla@yahoo.com
It has been over two months now since the dramatic report of the alleged suicide committed by an experienced agent of the Executive Protection Service (EPS), Melvin Earley, who was part of President George Manneh Weah’s security detail on the first leg of his county tour in Liberia’s northeastern Nimba County on February 19, 2021.
Over two months on, as it was when the dramatic news broke, circumstances surrounding the how it happen remain unclear as it was in February, with no outcome yet of an immediate probe promised by the high command of the EPS.
The EPS said in a press release then that it has launched a full scale investigation to establish any potential reason of the suicide.
But the late EPS officer’s family has since questioned claim that Earley did indeed commit suicide and have been demanding swift investigation and justice.
Suicide Vs homicide
Suicide is defined as “death caused by injuring oneself with the intent to die. A suicide attempt is … Suicide is connected to other forms of injury and violence.”
While on the other hand “Homicide is the act of one human killing another. A homicide requires only a volitional act by another person that results in death, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no intent to cause harm.”
“We want answers. We want to know how our son died and why. No matter what happened over there Melvin didn’t kill himself. We want justice for Melvin. He will not go down in history as this EPS man who just woke up one day and shot himself multiple times. He was not a superhuman who had to shoot himself multiple times. We are not buying that story,” Aunty Ruth Pittman-Kparkah told the FrontpageAfrica newspaper on March 12, 2021.
A photo of Melvin from his Facebook page
But since the dramatic incident in Nimba, EPS officials have not released any progress report on the probe they announced on February 19, 2021, although the EPS said it “has launched a full scale investigation to establish any potential reason for the apparent suicide.”
According to the preliminary report, the long serving EPS agent allegedly shot himself at about 06:03 am on Friday, February 19, 2021 in Tappita, Nimba County. He was on duty at the time of the incident.
But one unconfirmed report from Nimba says the exact circumstances under which that fatal incident supposedly happened was unclear, including any possible motive (s), if in fact it was suicide as reported.
Agent Early has been with EPS since the restructuring of the force after the Liberian Civil war.
How it happened?
The report said that the deceased first shot himself in his stomach and his body is currently deposited at the Jackson F. Doe referral hospital in Tappita, lower Nimba County.
Before the incident, officer Earley was said to have been observed by the Swift commander behaving in an unusual manner, something that led the Swift commander to attempt to take away the gun from him.
But the deceased is said to have run away from his boss.
After observing his allegedly unusual behaving, the commander reportedly instructed other EPS officers to keep eyes on him, but whether or not they kept eyes on him prior to his death is not known.
Before Melvin Early, there have been several other EPS officers who have died mysteriously over the years.
It can be recalled in 2017, an EPS officer was admitted at the S.D. A Cooper Hospital where he split his chest and back with razor blade. And in 2018, another EPS officer allegedly hanged himself in his room on the Old road in Monrovia’s Sinkor suburb.
So over two months on, it still remains a mystery: Why would have EPS Agent Melvin Earley shot himself dead during President Weah’s Nimba visit?