Letters—Details

Courthouse Shooting

07/23/2010

As a citizen of American Samoa (born and raised), I am deeply saddened by the events of July 22nd, 2010. An innocent man who was just doing his job as a detective was shot dead in the line of duty. For one thing, I can only say this now:  our people are in shock at this point.  Never in our right mind did we think it would go this far. We raise a child to become the person we want or should I say “expect” him or her to become. We shall teach them to be law-abiding children, so when they grow up, they are very much compliant with the officials and the law. And for someone that feeds on attention and thinks he can shoot anyone he wants, PLEASE CHECK YOUR ENGLISH BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH. How can someone do that, cursing at Brown’s lifeless body and kicking him after he'd fallen from six gunshot wounds? I wonder what state of mind he was in; he was probably on ice or just plain stupid. Poor upbringing results to this kind of behavior.
 

Moral Values in a Samoan is nothing but personal and cultural values that I know are highly relevant to a person’s behavior, but at some point in a person’s life, do we eliminate those values to nurture negative behavior? As we know, we are people founded on Christianity and respect and more over our culture is nothing but love. We have never seen anything like this happen before and as much as I want to say that I HOPE this is going to be last of it, it will not be a guarantee. Now the youth and children know that we are living in an insecure environment. We just gave in to harm’s way. This clearly states that our people are aware of the freedom we got, and that they can easily manipulate it. Too much freedom means we are trusted people. Now that this happened, that means we shall take away some privileges that some people may have. We need serious discipline in our country. Reality may have hit us yesterday, but we need to nip this situation at the roots of its development. Nip it before the problem becomes unmanageable. Another thing our system is a little corrupted to the point where our leaders fail to see what is becoming of our people. Our leaders need to act fast or more like, “think fast and think right”. We are just setting disappointing examples to our children and youth.

Yes we have pride in our family names, but we must remember, a name is just a piece of junk on paper. It won’t justify anything, only a fool will rep that name and carryout an action like how that Siaumau guy did, just to make a name for himself or for his family. You can hear him on audio, yelling his family name with pride let alone cussing. I’m disgusted by this guy. He also said in Samoan, “this is the end, Siaumau, this is the end of it.” He said that when Detective Brown was already on the ground. Killing someone to end an ongoing feud? That’s just like playing hide-and-go-seek with a 5 year old.

He is just fat and disgusting to the point where I wish someone could just shut him up when they were detaining him. That will be hard to carryout because that guy is huge. It took more than three cops to detain him. AND who is this family anyways; who does this fool think he is? You know, Police officers make enemies with the public, and that’s because the job they carry out pretty much involves the law. We as people, we tend to bend the law a little at times, but in this family’s case, Brown did what he had to do. His family doesn’t deserve this nor did Brown. Detective Brown was an honest man who did an excellent job at busting idiotic people who are non-compliant with the law. We are trying to eliminate the drug trafficking in our country and the possession of unlawful weapons, but some people just feed on violence. Ia malo fai ou faiva a li’I Siaumau, e manumalo lava le upu a le tusi Sa, “E sili lea na te pulea lona loto, lo lea n ate a ea le olo”… You just left a big dent in our hearts. May the Good Lord be with you and Let Justice be served PLEASE!

What I can’t stand is this, after he shot Brown; he then proceeded over to his lifeless body and starts kicking him in his face, yelling and cussing. MAKUA’I LEAI MA SE FAIAI OLA O LE GEI TAGATA SE… Ua ta’u atu lava i tagata o oe e le’i atoatoa se a’oa’iga mai i ou matua. Hate me for saying that, I don’t blame myself. I’m speaking for the many people who are disgusted by his actions. He doesn’t deserve anything and I’m talking about life itself. Ma’imau le ola a Le Ali’I I le a tagata fa’apenei. I’m not afraid of death, because there is nothing more exciting then living on top of clouds. I’m just angry that this happened, but we must realize more and more violence are making its way into our country. We must stand up and stand together to nip this problem.

To the family of Detective Brown, I can only wish you peace for you tragic loss. Know that Lt. Brown has changed lives, a great friend, an excellent police officer, and someone who has passion for humanity in his heart. Because he was not only dedicated to his job, but he was a great facilitator to many programs in the Police force. He is a well-known figure in the community for his role as a police officer and a detective. May the Good Lord grant you the serenity to move on and accept this situation. May his soul be rested and in God’s hands.

To the people of American Samoa, Ia alofa le Atua ma fa’amafanafana i uo ma aiga o Lt. Brown. Ua tatou i ai nei I taimi faigata, ae aua ne’i galo ia te oe lau aganu’u ma lou Atua e le tu’ua lava oe. Ia tatou u’u lima fa’atasi ma so’o so’o tauau e fesoasoani e aumaia ni auala fou e fa’aitiitia ai nei tuaiga amio ma fa’afiatauli… Ia alofa le Atua ma faamanuia atu i le tatou atunu’u. Malo le onosa’i i mea e tiga ai. O taimi fa’apenei, tatou te fa’apotopoto ai ma aiga, tatalo ma talatalanoa i auala e mafai ona tatou fesoasoani ai i tagata o lo’o mana’omia le fesoansoani. God REST Lt. Brown’s soul.

--- Samantha


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