Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide
By Chiemelie Ezeobi
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 was 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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