Panic gripped the Agip Junction, Ada George area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State last evening when a yet-to-be-identified police officer allegedly shot dead a man and injured three others.
The development, it was learnt, occurred around 5pm when the deceased, who was driving a vehicle, allegedly failed to stop when hailed down by police officials stationed around the Agip by Ada George Junction.
One of the officers allegedly opened fire on the vehicle after the driver refused to halt, an eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous, informed journalists, writes Daily Independent.
The bullet struck the driver in the chest, making him lose control of the vehicle, which then rammed into spectators, according to the eyewitness.
“This evening around 5pm, the police officers around Agip/Ada George Junction stopped a man driving but he refused to stop,” he claimed. So the policeman shot him in the back, and the bullet came through his chest. He was dead.
“The cop shot three times. The car veered out of control and struck three other persons.
The man died at a hospital near the junction. The other three people’s odds of survival are not known. I do not see why a policeman would fire a gun at an unarmed individual.
“After shooting the driver he began shooting sporadically in an effort to escape. Some youths ran at him, snatched the rifle from him and started thrashing him. “They were hitting the policeman and then other police officers came and saved him.”
The event is claimed to have sparked tension in the region. Youths are alleged to have challenged the police officer and disarmed him before more policemen arrived and hauled him away.
Our correspondent had reached out to the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, ASP Blessing Agabe for confirmation and was promised a response, but as of the time of reporting this story, the promise had not been fulfilled.
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