The man walked into a monastery and shot two nine-year old boys while they slept.

A member of a militia group shot and killed two children in a monastery in Hsihseng Township’s Pa-O Self-Administered Zone last week.

The militia in question was originally associated with the Pa-O National Army (PNO) but had become a People’s Militia Force, or a government-backed armed group. The shooting was carried out by a militia soldier who walked into the monastery in Mae Hae village in Tabet village tract at 11:00 p.m. on March 31 and “opened fire,” as the abbot said.

“He may have taken pills or drank alcohol,” U Nay Reinda, the abbot of the Mae Hae monastery, told SHAN. “The bullets hit two sleeping children… I tried to block him, but I could not.”

The children were both nine years old and lived in the village of Lon Hpo in Nawng Kyaw village tract.

“Those children were to soon become novice [monks] in the next two days. I feel very upset for them. I want soldiers to follow military rules and principles. If soldiers live in a village, they must follow the rules and principles of the village,” U Nay Reinda said.

The militia reportedly paid 8,000,000 kyats (US$5,313) to the families of each child. The families signed a document on April 4 accepting the funds, but it is unclear whether the document was a statement declaring that they would not take legal action against the militia, as some locals believed.

“The payment is a donation,” U Kyaw Naing, the Nawng Kyaw administrator, told SHAN, referring to other explanations as “a misunderstanding.”

“This is a murder case—it cannot be placated. The Burma Army’s eastern military command wants to see the document—that’s why they signed it,” he said, adding that the militia must never allow a crime like this to occur again.

The alleged shooter has been detained in Myoma police station in Hsihseng and is charged with homicide.