Police officers shot and arrested a 24-year-old political activist and detained his mother from their home in Bago on Thursday, according to local sources.

At around 10pm, junta police came to Zayar Aungmyay St in Bago’s Hinthagone 19th ward in two unmarked vehicles to arrest activist Sithu Kaung Myat, a well-known and active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

The policemen opened fire when it appeared that Sithu Kaung Myat was trying to run away, a local man said.

“They shot the young man three times in front of his mother when he was trying to escape. He was shot in his chest,” the man told Myanmar Now.

He added that Sithu Kaung Myat was on the second floor of the house when he was shot, while his mother was on the ground floor.

The police handcuffed the 50-year-old woman, who the source said has been in poor health, and raided the home.

"After the shooting, his mother was handcuffed and taken into a car. The young man had not been carried away at that time,” the man explained. “They ransacked the house and took their belongings, including a motorcycle that they wanted. Then the boy was taken into the car.”

Sithu Kaung Myat was admitted to the Bago General Hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest that he suffered when troops came to arrest him from his home on Zayar Aungmyay St in Hinthagone 19th ward at around 10pm.

Sithu Kaung Myat’s 50-year-old mother was also arrested on Thursday and was still in jail at the time of reporting. Police cordoned off the family’s home at around 2pm on Friday, around one hour after her son’s death, a local told Myanmar Now.

“They don’t have other relatives—it is only a mother and a son. She has no other relatives so nobody helped to get her released,” the local said. “People in that ward don’t know who they should ask for help. They don’t know where she has been detained.”

After locals visited the hospital and inquired about his condition, they learned that he had died on Friday afternoon.

It was not known at the time of reporting if or how a funeral would be held for Sithu Kaung Myat, who ​​was an active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the local police station to inquire about the shooting and the continued detention of Sithu Kaung Myat’s mother—who, it is believed, is in poor health—but the calls went unanswered.

Since the February 1 coup, the junta has frequently held the relatives of targeted politicians and activists hostage when troops have been unable to locate the individual they intended to arrest.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 7,000 continue to be imprisoned by the coup regime, according to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Friday.

The junta has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation and rejected their data as exaggerated.