A 52-year-old trader, Obiora Ibe has been killed by four unknown gunmen operating in a tricycle, also called Keke Napep in his shop along Club road In Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
The incident occurred at about 7pm on June 17.
The assailants were said to have shot the 52-year-old dead, after they collected some undisclosed amount of money being the sales for the day, his phone and that of his wife.
Narrating the incident, wife to the deceased, Mrs Azuka Ibe said that on the fateful day, her husband had informed her on the need to close for the day as there was to customers to attend to. She narrated that while getting ready to close for the day,a young boy walked into the shop under the guise of purchasing an item only for him to pull out a gun and ordered her to give him the money and phone, which she willingly did.
She further stated that it was at that point that her husband who was coming into the shop saw the boy going away with the apron containing money and the phone and shouted.
Azuka disclosed that while the boy with the apron containing the money entered into the tricycle waiting in front of the shop, another member of the gang who was standing beside the tricycle shot her husband on the neck and head, before they went away.
An eyewitness, Mr. Peter Chinweokwu observed that the deceased was inside his shop when he noticed that somebody was insisting that his son and wife go back into the shop.
Chinweokwu said, “I didn’t know that they were armed robbers, so I asked him, Oga what is it now; he said that I should give him the money I sold for the day. I told him that I didn’t have any money, that I had not sold anything. The next minute, he closed the burglary against us while we were still inside the store and went into my neighbour’s shop.
“We were inside that place when I heard the sound of a gun. I peeped and saw that somebody was entering inside the Keke with one steel gun. When I came out, I saw that they had shot my neighbour and I rushed him to hospital but when we got to the hospital, the doctor confirmed him dead”.
The State Police Spokesperson, DSP Udeviote Onyeke Ezekiel, who confirmed the incident said, “it was a shock and one of the unfortunate incidents in the state.”
Comments