Two men from the village of Ulutogia were killed in their sleep early Tuesday morning in an attack by a man with a machete.
A suspect was taken into custody by police but a motive for the attack is still unclear. No names were released.
Police Commissioner Fauono Talalelei Tapu confirmed that the two deceased were both male.
One was 41-years-old from the village of Matāutu, Falelatai and Ulutogia, married with three children.
The other victim is 27-years-old from the village of Ulutogia, married with one child.
The suspect is also from the village of Ulutogia and is believed to be over forty.
“The wounds were very severe,” said Fauono, who accompanied officers to the scene.
Two nurses attending the scene fainted due to shock, said the acting Commissioner.
Calls came into headquarters not long after the attacks.
“The station at Lalomanu contacted our office late last night to report the incident,” said Fauono, referring to yesterday morning.
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“When I was contacted I was informed that one was deceased at the time, so I sent some police officers over to where the incident occurred.
“At about 3.30am to 4am, I was again contacted by the Lalomanu station, to inform me that two have died, and that a machete was used to kill the two males.”
That was when Fauono left with the next contingent of officers.
“When we arrived at the scene, we surrounded the area and the suspect was inside a mosquito net, and so we dragged him out of the mosquito net.
“By the time the suspect was brought out, members of the village were at the scene and so we tried to protect the suspect, because there was a lot of tension within the village.
“At that time, this is only a suspect, as it hasn’t been confirmed that this was the person who committed the crime,” said Fauono, visibly exhausted from being up most of the night and day.
“But members of the village were very sure that he was the person who had done all of this.
“They were sure because he was the same person who was also in a fight with the two deceased the day before the incident.”
Fauono said they were told that the three men had been together, inland, gathering coconuts when they got into an argument. It has not yet been established what the argument was about.
“The police officers then took the suspect with them while I tried to calm the members of the village down, so that there won’t be any more problems.
“We took the suspect to the Lalomanu station for questioning, while other police officers from the Apia and Lalomanu stations stayed back to do their investigation, take some pictures and do their normal routine.” Fauono stated that the two deceased men were killed with a machete while they were sleeping.
“The incident happened at around 2 o’clock in the morning.
“The investigation is still ongoing.”
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