Harrison Pennoh is best known for allegedly killing then-

President of Liberia The president of the Republic of Liberia is the head of state and government of Liberia. The president serves as the leader of the executive branch and as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Prior to the independence of Liberia ...

William Tolbert William Richard Tolbert Jr. (13 May 1913 – 12 April 1980) was a Liberian politician who served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until 1980. Tolbert was an Americo-Liberian and trained as a civil servant before entering the House of ...

on 12 April 1980.

1980 coup d'état

In 1979, hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Liberia's capital,

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

, demonstrating against the sharp rise in the price of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

. Tolbert ordered his troops to fire on the demonstrators, and some seventy people were killed. Despite efforts to restore order, rioting ensued throughout Liberia, and attempts to quash the opposition by arresting its leaders failed. On 12 April 1980, Tolbert was overthrown by military mutineers in a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

where the 66-year-old President was savagely murdered by private soldier Harrison Pennoh, who later proved mentally unstable. Before the end of the month, Tolbert's entire Cabinet had been put on trial and sentenced to death - with no right to be defended by a lawyer and no right to appeal to the verdict. All but one were publicly executed on a beach near Monrovia. The only cabinet member who escaped from being shot was the only minister of tribal origin, raised in an Americo-Liberian family that was part of the Tolbert-clan

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Mon ...

External links

''Liberia Past and Present'' mentioning the killing of Tolbert by Pennoh.
1980 murders in Africa Assassins of presidents Liberian rebels 20th-century Liberian people Year of birth missing Murder in Liberia 1980s murders in Liberia 1980 crimes in Liberia {{crime-bio-stub