On Sunday, June 20, 2021, a police inspector whose identity has yet to be revealed woke up, grabbed his AK-47 rifle and went on a shooting spree, killing people at a lotto firm and the manager’s residence. The firm is at Plot H/38 while the manager’s residence is located at H/44 both in Golf Estate, Enugu State.
The neighbourhood had thought that robbers or gunmen were in the vicinity. The trigger-happy cop also killed a guard attached to the dwelling.
Some survivors, who spoke with Sunday PUNCH, narrated their ordeals in the mindless attack that lasted at least 20 minutes.
A lady, identified simply as Elizabeth, stated that she was saved by her elder sister, Susana and a co-worker who shielded her with their bodies as the policeman fired bullets.
Elizabeth said, “Around 9am on that day, I was outside washing clothes and doing other house chores when suddenly there were gunshots. I didn’t know the direction it was coming from. As I stood to go inside, my sister, Susana, who was later killed, dragged me inside our room in the boys quarter. She reprimanded me saying, ‘don’t you hear the gunshots coming from the main house?
“My sister Susana and I, with another lady, hid inside the room. Suddenly, one of our sisters, Christina, ran inside with a bullet wound. She ran under the bed while three of us lay on the bed covering ourselves. We prayed and asked the Almighty God to spare our lives. Unfortunately, the cop returned, shot at the window and the bullets hit us where we hid. The bodies of my sister and the other lady shielded me. The bullets only hit me on the elbow in one hand and upper arm. Two of them died immediately because he riddled their bodies with bullets.”
She added, “Christina hid under the bed in her pool of blood from the shot on her chest and my sisters lay on top of me in a pool of blood. The cop called our names to know whether anyone was still alive so that he could complete the job. He said, ‘Susana! Susana! come out if you are alive. Elizabeth! come out if you are alive.’ When he didn’t hear any voice, then I heard him calling another policeman on the phone to come, saying that some gunmen came to the neighbourhood but he killed two of them.”
Christina, who sustained a wound on her chest is receiving treatment at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane, corroborated Elizabeth’s narration when our correspondent visited her at the clinic.
She noted that when they came for work on Saturday around 9pm the policeman switched off the light and turned off the water in the house while they were still working.
“Although we don’t know the reason for his action, we didn’t ask him. Around 9am, we heard gunshots. He first shot the gateman, Joshua, before coming inside the compound. Also, he shot the chef but missed him; he then shot me three times while I was running to hide. The bullet hit me on the upper chest and my right hand,” she said.
She further said that when policemen attached to the Special Tactical Squad arrived at the scene, he told them the house was attacked by gunmen.
She added, “He was praising God that he killed two of the suspected gunmen before our chef whom he thought he had killed shouted from his hiding place that he (police inspector) was the gunman shooting and killing everybody.”
Another worker at the Lotto firm, who gave her name only as Rose, described the killings as mindless and unprovoked.
Rose, who also gave details of some of the victims, said four of the nine victims were girls from Cotonou, Benin Republic. She said two of them died while two survived and are in a hospital. It was gathered that three others were from the North; two died and one is in hospital while among two from the East, one died and the other is in a hospital.
She said, “One of those killed, Aunty Susana, is our boss’s home help and one of the home help. The second girl came a few weeks back and they were all from Cotonou, Benin Republic. All the girls working inside our boss’ house came from Cotonou. The two girls that died immediately were also from Cotonou. The two gatemen, Joshua and Abdul, may be from the North. One other person, also a Hausa, is in the hospital.
“He killed people inside our oga (boss) house and came out and killed a gateman in another house. “After my friend’s husband, Mr Ndubeze Orji died, it brought the deaths to five.’’
Asked about the name of the police inspector, she said “I don’t know his name but we call him officer MOP.”
Rose alleged that one of the victims, Ndubueze Orji, died after he was rejected by a hospital he was rushed to.
She said “Such behaviour by hospitals in Nigeria was callous and should be looked into. Hospitals should concern themselves first with saving lives before any other consideration. Orji’s death was too painful because efforts were made to save his life but hospitals frustrated it.
“Though he was given first aid and bandaged, his intestine was out and they said they couldn’t treat him. From there, we took him to the 82 DIV Nigerian Army Hospital. We couldn’t open the door and we took him to Parklane where a man advised us to take him to Niger Foundation Hospital. Unfortunately, when we got there they also rejected him before we returned to Parklane. Unfortunately, he died before we got there. On arrival, three doctors confirmed him dead.
“When Orji was shot, he cried as he ran to the road and cried for help. Some people took him to hospital. Other people the cop shot were either inside the house or inside the drainage near the gate on the day of the incident.’’
