PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado – Residents of Paynesville on Monday woke up to the discovery of the lifeless body of Tyron Brown, a journalist working for Super FM and Super TV, media entities owned by businessman George Kailando.

According to a statement issued by the Press Union of Liberia, Brown was found dead in Duport Road, Paynesville, after attending a service at his church on Sunday, his family reported.

No clues have been provided yet on what led to his death, but the Press Union’s statement called Brown’s death a “gruesome murder.” The union says it is shocked by the situation, especially in the wake of “the escalation of threats and intimidation” of journalists and the independent media by some officials of government.

“The killing of Tyron has increased the level of fear in the Journalism Community in Liberia and has further strengthened the case for self-censorship in the traditional journalism sphere in Liberia,” it said.

Despite the Press Union’s statement and suggestions from many individuals on social media that this is linked to a growing wave of threats and intimidation of journalists, there is no evidence so far that Brown was critical of the government officials or such figures in his work.

The statement also said that the corpse was already deposited at a local mortuary awaiting forensic investigation. The Bush Chicken was unable to gather information on the state of his body.

The union is calling for a speedy police investigation, which is expected to include an autopsy to determine the cause of the death of the journalist.

Recently, the union noted that there were growing waves of threats and intimidation of journalists and the local media by officials of government, which it says raises concern for press freedom and security for journalists in the country.

It earlier urged media institutions to prioritize the safety of their journalists and conduct regular in-house safety trainings going forward as tolerance towards the media in the country was decreasing.