US Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho killed in apparent robbery attempt

Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho killed

JOHANNESBURG — The U.S. Embassy in Lesotho says a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the southern African country was shot and killed in an apparent robbery attempt.

In a statement this week, the embassy identified the volunteer as 24-year-old Thomas Maresco, a recent University of Florida graduate who had been working in Lesotho since 2009. He died Sept. 3.

The embassy says, “It appears it may have been an attempted robbery.” No other details were provided.

Maresco taught high school science and coached basketball and swimming in a Lesotho village. He was among about 90 volunteers in Lesotho, an impoverished, mountainous kingdom surrounded by South Africa.