Breaking: Imo community boils as police kill man, 23

..Angry mob set police station ablaze, free inmates

Our reporter

There is palpable tension in Obowo Local Government Area following the killing of a 23 year old man by a Police officer which led youths to sack the police station in the area, burnt down their station and subsequently opened the cell for detainees to flee.

The deceased, simply known as Ikenna was said to have been gunned down by the police at Las Virgin hotel, Umuokeh Obowo.

According to eye witnesses who spoke exclusively to Daily Times, fracas started at the hotel a few minutes to 1pm on Monday, between some boys who had issues among themselves, but the intervention of a police man who was called to settle the matter, led to the police man shooting sporadically, with the intention of scaring the warring factions when a bullet accidentally hit the man on the chest.

Although he was rushed to the hospital immediately, the man died before he could be attended to.

After the shooting and seeing what had happened, the policeman who shot the boy immediately ran away with his gun but the villagers took the corpse of the boy to the police station and demanded for the killer officer.

Tempers flared later when they could not find the officer, leading to more crowd, with policemen on duty taking to their heels, leaving the angry crowd to set the station ablaze after freeing inmates under the station’s custody.

They also ransacked and tooted the station, taking away valuables including guns, motorcycles, electrical equipment, car batteries, cars, etc.

As at the time of this report, the corpse of the man, Ikenna, was lying at the police station.