(CPJ/IFEX) – Associated Press (AP) television producer Myles Tierney, 34, of New York City, was killed when the vehicle he was traveling in through Freetown was sprayed with bullets by a man reported to be a rebel. Abidjan-based AP Television West Africa bureau chief Ian Stewart, 32, also in the vehicle, was shot in the […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Associated Press (AP) television producer Myles Tierney, 34, of
New York City, was killed when the vehicle he was traveling in through
Freetown was sprayed with bullets by a man reported to be a rebel.
Abidjan-based AP Television West Africa bureau chief Ian Stewart, 32, also
in the vehicle, was shot in the head and is currently reported to be in
critical condition. Nairobi-based AP photographer David Guttenfelder
suffered cuts from broken window glass when the station wagon was shot at.
As they were driving through downtown Freetown, an armed man approached the
vehicle and, after an exchange of words with an ECOMOG soldier in the
vehicle, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Stewart and Guttenfelder
are United States nationals. Tierney is believed to be either a U.S. or
Canadian national.
**Updates previous IFEX alert of 11 January 1999**
CPJ sources reported that Tierney, Stewart, and Guttenfelder had been
assured by Information Minister Julius Spencer that the area of Freetown
they were visiting was safe. The journalists who were transported and
accompanied there by ECOMOG (West Africa Peacekeeping Forces) soldiers and
members of the Ministry of Information.
The journalists were rushed to a nearby ECOMOG base, and then flown to
Conakry, Guinea. From there, Stewart and Guttenfelder were transported to
Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Arrangements were being made to transport Stewart to
London for medical care.
