A father of eight performing missionary work in Cameroon was shot and killed during an ambush Tuesday — and his family believes he was targeted for being a white American.
Charles Trumann Wesco was gunned down in the attack in Bambui in the northwestern part of the country, which has been ravaged by recent fighting between separatists and the military.
The 44-year-old, his wife, Stephanie, and their eight kids moved to Bamenda from Indiana less than two weeks ago. The Wesco family, who’d done many missions to Africa, decided to make a permanent move there after a 2015 trip.
“Their objective was to share the love of Christ with people in a very poor and strife-ridden country,” Wesco’s brother, Indiana state Rep. Timothy Wesco, told ABC News. “That was their passion, and that was their life — to share Jesus Christ.”
Timothy said it appeared Charles, who was driving into town with his son, wife and driver to shop, was “targeted” — though military officials claim he may have been caught in crossfire.
It was “quite probable he was targeted because he was a white, English-speaking American,” the brother said.
Charles was in the front seat and struck by two shots that came through the windshield. No one else was injured.
He was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds later in the day
“He died in our hospital after all attempts to save his life,” hospital director Kingue Thomson Njie told the xAssociated Press.
Armed separatists have been fighting with the military in a revolt to create an independent state in the English-speaking northwest region of Cameroon, a former French colony.
At least 400 civilians have been killed in the last year since the English-speaking militants declared independence, according to the International Crisis Group, ABC News reported.
Armed groups staged an attack Tuesday to thwart the reopening of the University of Bamenda and the military fought back.
Regional Gov. Deben Tchoffo said Wesco may have been caught in the crossfire between the two.
The military killed at least four people over Wesco’s death and arrested a slew of others, according to military spokesman Col. Didier Badjeck.
Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo called the shooting a “terrorist ambush” on state radio, adding that an inquiry had been launched.
The Wesco family raised money to perform missionary work in Cameroon for two years. They were fully aware of the risks, penning a September-October newsletter about a curfew where “English section civilians are not allowed to safely leave their homes or operate their businesses without risking loss or death.”
“Keep praying earnestly for a return of peace to the English and French sections of Cameroon!” the couple wrote.
Stephanie and the eight children are still in Bamenda, Njie said. But Timothy said the family hopes to get them out soon.
With Post wires
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