Police Question 9-Year-Old Boy

The police have picked up the nine-year-old boy who allegedly killed his younger sister with a pistol while playing with the weapon in their home at Asuoyeboa, a Kumasi suburb, last Wednesday. As of press time yesterday, the boy and his parents were at the Suntreso Police Station assisting in investigations. It was not clear whether the magnitude of the case would compel the police to detain him. �We are still interrogating him and the next decision will follow. But for now, it is too early to say what will happen,� the Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr. Yusif Mohammed Tanko, told the Daily Graphic. He said the arrest was crucial in getting to the bottom of the shooting. He disclosed that the police had retrieved the weapon after the boy had led investigators to the place where he allegedly hid it after the incident. Mr. Tanko stated that the mechanic at the Suame Magazine in whose room the shooting had taken place had gone missing and the police were searching for him. His name was given only as Boateng. About 1pm last Wednesday, the boy was playing with his sister, Mary Afia Pokuaa, four, in Boateng�s room where he picked the loaded weapon. Boating had left for work without locking his room. While the boy was playing with the gun, it accidentally went off and the bullet hit Pokuaa in the head. She was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. All that happened in the absence of their parents.