Daleko Bridge in Mushin area of Lagos was like a war zone
Thursday as people fled in different directions as gunmen, who were said to be
dressed in police uniform, struck in the area.
The gunmen were said to have killed
no fewer than two persons while several others sustained varying degrees of
injuries in the ensuing melee.
It gathered that one of the victims,
a foreigner, Mr. Santos Korie, who was shot while driving a Toyota Highlander
sport utility vehicle (SUV), later died from gunshot wounds while he was being
rushed to a nearby hospital.
But it could not be immediately
ascertained whether the gunmen were hired assassins in police uniform or real
police officers as claimed by eyewitnesses.
According to eyewitnesses, the
assailants, in a commando style, stormed the area in a commercial bus and
released hails of bullets into the air while one of the gunmen particularly
targeted Korie who was hit in the chest by bullets.
Confirming the incident, the state
Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of
Police, said efforts were being made to ascertain whether the gunmen were
police officers or hired killers.
She said: "At about 7am, the
Area Commander, Area ‘D’ Mushin, received a distress call that there was a
shooting incident around Daleko Bridge, Mushin. Some policemen were immediately
dispatched to the area but on arrival, the gunmen had disappeared.
"On enquiry, eyewitnesses
clustering around told men of the Area ‘D’ that the gunmen were in police
uniform and had operated in a commercial bus. The victim, one Mr. Santos
Korie, who was driving in a Toyota Highlander, died on his way to the
hospital."
Braide said when the information got
to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, he ordered that the
assailants be fished out with a view to knowing their identities.
"In recent time, gunmen
operating in military and police uniforms have been involved in one violent
crime or the other and the Lagos State Command is not leaving any stone
unturned in dealing decisively with any fake uniformed officer,” she added.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that seven
persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.
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