Imo State Police Command has arrested one of its officers who allegedly shot dead an 18-year-old boy, identified as Awuzie Duru because he retaliated a slap given to him by the policeman at a bank in Umuaka area of the state.
According to The Nations, Awuzie went to a new generation bank branch at Umuaka on Sunday, December 1, to withdraw money from the bank’s ATM gallery.
One of the villagers, who witnessed the killing, said Awuzie joined the ATM line, other persons joined the queue behind him.
“They were on the queue when his (Awuzie’s) phone rang, he stepped out of the line to answer the call. When he can back the other person behind him took his position on the queue and tried to stop him from joining the queue again.
“This action was happening in the presence of this killer policeman and caused hot exchange of words between Awuzie and the guy that took his position on the queue while the policeman was there watching.
“The exchange of words between the two degenerated to fighting and in the process, the policeman who has been watching the scene came and started scolding Awuzie who was trying to maintain his position after answering his call.
“The boy told him, ‘you were here watching while we were exchanging words. Why scolding me now it has led to fighting?’ The policeman slapped him and the boy retaliated. In the process, the policeman cocked his gun and shot the boy, who died instantly”
The 18-year-old boy was allegedly shot dead by the police officer because he retaliated when the officer slapped him
The boy’s killing stirred up tension in the town as the youths in the area began planning an attack on the police station.
According to village sources, the youths mobilised to attack the police station but some elders appealed to them to allow the police hierarchy handle the matter.
An elder in the area told The Nation: I can tell you that the boys were not happy with the matter is that policeman killed the boy over an altercation. So, they had mobilised to burn down the station to show their anger and loss.
“But, some of us had to intervene because this kind of thing has happened here before about 15 years ago when some policemen caused the death of some people in Umuaka here and our youths burned down the police station. So we don’t want this kind of thing to happen anymore.
“Some of them are still planning to launch an attack but we’re still appealing to them”.
The state police commissioner, Rabiu Ladodo confirmed the incident, saying the command was doing everything possible to contain any further crisis that might arise from the incident.
“Yes, I’m aware that the youths mobilised to the police station, but I told my men that we must handle the matter community policing and professionally too. That’s why when the villagers came, we allowed them to express their grievance and we addressed the matter. We were very professional in handling the matter,” he said
Ladodo, who disclosed that the killer policeman had been arrested, said appropriate punishment would be meted out to him if he was found guilty.
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