A young man shot and killed two people in what appeared to be a revenge killing in Ngapagok village, Tonj East County, on Monday.
Police identified the suspect as Chol Maluk Yor, 21, who killed Matoto Bol Akol, 24; and Marop Gelong Manyang, 26, in cold blood.
County Police Director Col. Joseph Mathony says the suspect opened gunfire on the people at the market.
He believes that Maluk, who is at large, exacted a revenge after his unnamed little brother was accidentally killed by the victims’ relatives in the area two years ago.
“The reason for the revenge is that a suspect brother whose name is not identified but his age was 12 years was killed two years by another young boy,” he told Mayardit FM on Tuesday.
”The 12-year-old boy was killed by a fellow agemate while playing two years ago. It was not intentional killing and the court ruled that blood compensation be paid to the family.
“But the brother, who today took the law into his own hands, refused. The ruling was made that way because the killer of the 12 year old boy was also a child of the same age.”
Col. Mathony appealed the public to report the whereabouts of the suspect.
Similar cases of revenge killing are common in South Sudan. Experts blamed then on inadequate capacity of the justice system, which contributes to communal conflict and revenge killings across South Sudan.
This has been attributed to unchecked proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the hands of unauthorized individuals in the country.