Ugandan authorities have detained a member of a local defense force in relation to the shooting deaths of two U.S. missionaries.
Amin Aruma was picked up March 20, two days after Warren and Donna Pett were shot to death during an attack on the college where they taught, the Associated Press reported.
Okot Araa, the district police chief, said Aruma is one of seven suspects police are looking for.
He was found about 10 miles away from the college in possession of a gun which police believe had been recently fired. Aruma, who is in his 30s, had left his local defense force unit without permission on the day of the killings, Araa said.
The Petts were shot after seven armed men dressed in military uniforms raided the Evangelical School of Technology near Yumbe in northwestern Uganda. The attack also involved the burning of buildings and vehicles.
There has been no clear motive for the slaying of the missionaries, but police have said they were investigating whether the attack was religiously motivated.
The Petts, both 49, were dairy farmers from Mukwonago, Wis., and had served with Africa Inland Mission (AIM) International since 1997, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.
“The Africa Inland Mission family is deeply saddened by news of the shooting deaths of two of our missionaries,” it said. The Petts had begun working in Uganda in March 2003.
In addition to the Petts, one student was killed and another injured, the ministry said. The school where they taught is a ministry of Here’s Life, a Ugandan Christian organization.
The couple previously worked in Kenya, where Warren Pett was the general services manager for AIM’s international services division and his wife oversaw distribution of a Bible study publication for African pastors in 19 nations.
Founded in 1895, AIM is a nondenominational Christian missionary-sending agency that works primarily in Africa and the islands of the Indian Ocean. It is based in Pearl River, N.Y. (compiled from wire services)
Share with others: