Calabar, Nigeria – A policeman has allegedly shot dead a senior officer’s son over mistaken identity in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
Converseer gathered that the incident happened on Monday at about 4 PM at Cameroon Street, Bogobiri, Calabar Municipality Local Government Area.
According to a reliable source, Musa Katuma, Triumph Newspaper Correspondent, the police were chasing a suspected drug dealer who escaped their grasp.
While combing the compound where the suspect was said to be hiding, one of the officers (yet to be identified) shot a young man between age 25 to 30, who died after being rushed to the hospital.
Kutama said the victim, who is the son of a senior police officer, was said to be innocent and was coming out from the same compound the police suspected the suspect ran into.
“The incident happened opposite my shop. I saw a group of people when I came back from where I went to buy something and when I enquired, they told me that a policeman shot someone.
“The police came to arrest some suspects selling contraband/hard drugs including tramadol. They arrested one suspect and kept inside their vehicle, and in an attempt to arrest the second one who is now at large, he ran away into a compound at Cameroon Street.
“When the police went into the compound, they saw the victim coming out and they accidentally shot him, thinking he was the suspect.
“They carried the victim in my presence and took him to the hospital where he was later confirmed dead,” Kutama told Converseer.
Kutama further said “They took away the corpse of the victim, a young man between 25 to 30 years. I was told he was the son of a senior police officer. I was also told that he was innocent.
“The policeman that shot the guy ran away using a motorcycle.”
The source also said some irate area boys vandalised the non-crested vehicle used by the police who ran away after the incident. The vehicle was a grey Toyota Corolla.
“Later, I saw the Councillor and other people who called the Police Command. A different set of officers came with a towing van to tow the vehicle away,” Kutama added.
When contacted on the phone on Wednesday, SP Irene Ugbo, Police Public Relations Officer in Cross River State, confirmed the incident.
Ugbo told Converseer that, “There was chaos in the area yesterday [Tuesday], but our men were able to calm it down.
“There was information that some drug dealers were around that place when our men went there. We are still working on the information we received but the area is calm now – no cause for alarm.”