A Policeman believed to be under the influence of alcohol shot 32-year-old Victoria Ekpe to death at a close range on Sunday at Ikot Ansa in Calabar Municipal Area of Cross River State.
An eyewitness who declined to give her name said the victim was shot on the neck and she died on the spot.
She alleged that the suspect was shouting, “I feel like shooting somebody” and ended up shooting the victim.
When DAILY POST visited the family home of the victim at Joseph Mkpa Street, Ikot Ansa community in Calabar Municipal, our reporter met a large crowd of sympathisers.
The suspect, Sergeant Edu Nkanu, from Abi Local Government of Cross River, allegedly returned home drunk from a party at about 8.30 pm on Sunday with a locally made pistol in his pocket.
Another eyewitness, Elizabeth Bassey, said Sergeant Nkanu came home drunk from a party and when she asked him why he always comes home drunk, he brought out a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at her, but sensing danger, she ran but her late cousin who never took part in their discussion was shot.
“On Sunday around past five in the evening, myself and my late cousin went out and came back by 8.30 pm, she stood outside pressing her phone while I went in to change.
“By the time I came out, she was still standing there, fiddling her phone and she asked me what was going on inside the room and I told her nothing and she asked me I sprayed perfume and I said yes,” she said.
The eyewitness further said, “At that particular time, the policeman came back from an outing and our mummy was also outside, Mma asked him what he brought from his outing, he told her he did not come home with anything, he left Mma and came to the passage where I was standing,
“I asked him why he always gets drunk anytime he goes out, immediately, he turned and brought out a pistol from his pocket cocked it and pointed it at me, saying this is what I brought from the party. I got scared and ran and my dead sister who was just busy with her phone, not knowing what we were discussing, he turned the gun to her direction and shot her at her neck”.
The elder Sister to late Victoria, Ekanem Ekpe, said her sister was killed in front of her 6-years old daughter, Blessing who drew her attention to the death of her mother.
“This is her daughter Blessing, and she was standing by the mother when she was shot. I was inside when I heard the gunshot but I did not come out immediately until when I heard the daughter screaming, ‘uncle you have killed my mummy’ that was when I came out.
“Behold my sister was lying down dead, blood was gushing out from the side of her neck. I saw him with a gun and I said, ‘Nkanu, what happened, you have killed my sister, he was just staring at the gun and at my sister, all he could say was, Mma Nurse, I don’t know what happened.
“That was when I held him and started shouting; people came out and managed to collect the gun from him. I don’t understand why a police officer would rather take people’s life instead of saving lives.
“We were told at the police station that he had killed someone like this before where he was serving in Obubra. He has a criminal file in Police custody before now. Please, we want justice for my sister,” She lamented.
When contacted, the Police Public Relation Officer, Irene Ugbo, confirmed the incident and promised that the culprit would be dismissed and tried in the court of law.
“The Policeman has been arrested, he is in our custody and we are going to deal with him decisively because the gun that he used to shoot the deceased is not our gun. It is a locally made pistol so he is going to tell us where he got that gun and who ordered him to shoot an innocent woman.
“There was no quarrel between them as we were told. Although we heard that he was used to threatening people in the house. We are going to try him for murder, dismiss him and send him to court.”
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