Jalwa Tonpo said the incident happened during an all-night Christian worship program in New Crew Town on the outskirts of the capital.
“Doctors said 29 people died and some are on the serious list,” Tonpo said while calling state radio from a nearby hospital. “It’s a sad day for the country.”
Exodus Morias, a resident who attended the event, told Reuters that the stampede began when a group of armed men tried to rob the crowd.
“We saw a group of people approaching the crowd with cutlass and other weapons,” Morias said. Some people fell while running and some fell on the ground and walked on them.
Bands of Liberian street gangs known as zogos usually carry out robberies with machete and other small arms.
Police spokesman Moses Carter declined to comment on the cause of the incident. He said that investigation is going on.