By: Frank P. Martin
MONROIVA: The Liberia National Police (LNP) has declared wanted Peaches Queen Johnson and several unnamed individuals in connection to the mob violence that reportedly led to the death of Joshua Solomon.
Joshua Solomon, a model and beauty pageant trainer who was severely beaten supposedly by partisans of the Unity Party (UP) during the 2023 election campaign was pronounced dead on Friday.
Addressing a Major Press conference, Monday, December 4, 2023, at the headquarters of the Liberia National Police (LNP), on Capitol Hill in Monrovia, LNP Spokesman, Moses Carter, disclosed that LNP’s investigators have declared Mis Peaches Queen Johnson and several others who were seen in the said video wanted.
In the purported video that has since gone viral across social media, an individual believed to be Solomon can be seen struggling to get away as he was being attacked by some members of the crowd with deadly objects.
He eventually escaped the wrath of the angry crowd and sought treatment at a local health center, LNP said.
At a local health center, a battered and bruised Joshua Solomon can be seen in the video sitting with copious blood seeping through the thick and cascading dreadlocks on his head.
However, the LNP spokesman, Moses Carter, averred that since Solomon was pronounced dead over the weekend, LNP investigators have been in search of those individuals seen in the video, including Peaches Queen Johnson, to undergo police’s investigation.
Carter urged individuals who are involved in the August 11, 2023 violent incident to cooperate with the LNP investigators by turning themselves over for questioning in connection to Joshua Solomon’s death.
Solomon, 35, is said to be a member of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), of incumbent President, George M. Weah.
He reportedly succumbed to his injuries on August 11, when he was reportedly spotted and beaten by alleged partisans of Unity Party (UP), around the UP-Campaign Office in Sinkor.
Solomon’s spotting and subsequent brutalization were reportedly preceded by an earlier clash between partisans of the Unity Party and the Coalition of Democratic Change (CDC) near the Vamoma House in Sinkor that left scores of supporters of both parties wounded.
The clash reportedly started when partisans of the CDC attempted to prevent the convoy of its political rival, UP, from making its way to the UP-campaign headquarters.
Interestingly, other media reports quoted the CDC as saying the clash began when a bike rider, said to be a member of the CDC, was attacked by members of the Unity Party.
There were claims that Solomon was ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time,’ as he reportedly donned a beret with CDC insignia when he was spotted by some individuals said to be members of the Unity Party who allegedly rushed towards him like a whirlwind.
Queen Johnson, a light-skinned member of the Unity Party is seen in the video allegedly attempting to catch Solomon who struggled to free himself from her grip amid the onslaught of attack.
