Policeman kills colleague while trying to arrest suspect in Abia

By UGOCHUKWU ALARIBE, Umuahia

Tragedy struck in Aba, Abia State, yesterday when a yet to be identified policeman shot dead his colleague while trying to arrest a suspect.

Vanguard gathered that the incident which occurred at the Bata Junction, saw the killer policeman trying to shoot a suspect for resisting arrest and mistakenly shot his colleague.

Eyewitnesses told Vanguard that a tinted glass jeep approaching from Factory road was stopped by policemen who tried to force the occupants into their patrol van.

But another policeman who was accompanying the tinted glass jeep pleaded with the patrol team to allow them passage, all to no avail.

 It was gathered that when the occupant of the vehicle resisted the arrest, one of the police officers pulled his gun and accidentally shot at his colleague.

According to the eyewitnesses; “When the police officer shot at his colleague, they suddenly left the suspect they were forcefully trying to arrest and began attending to their colleague.

“However, the suspect fled to a nearby fast-food company where the soldiers stationed there intervened and the police officers and took their shot colleague into their patrol van and left.

Another policeman accompanying the man on the tinted glass jeep even pleaded with the patrol team to allow them to go, but they refused until the shooting.”

The injured policeman was said to have died on the way to the hospital, but this could not be confirmed as at press time.

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Abia State Command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, who confirmed the incident, said he was yet to be briefed and cannot make comments. (Vanguard)