Abiodun Anuoluwapo, a betting agent in Abeokuta’s Imala/Elega area, was killed on Friday night by a stray bullet fired by an Ogun State Command police officer.
According to reports, Anuoluwapo, a Moshood Abiola Polytechnic graduate, ran a betting kiosk in front of the area’s prominent hotel, First Point, and was about to close for the day when a gunshot struck him and killed him on the spot.
The situation surrounding Anuoluwapo’s death at the time of filling this report was still hazy.
While one anonymous source claimed that the officers who emerged from the hotel were drunk before one of them fired the bullet, another claimed that the officers were either on a raid or chasing a suspect when one of them accidentally shot the deceased, whom he affectionately referred to as Pepe, in front of his shop.
According to PUNCH, the officers quickly fled into the hotel and requested backup before fleeing hours later.
The source said, “The young man owned a shop opposite First Point Hotel. The police were chasing someone or on the raid and there was an accidental discharge, the stray bullet hit the guy and he died immediately.
“The youth in the area tried to hold down the policemen but they ran into the hotel. They had to reinforce to get more police to come to rescue them before they were able to run away later around 11 pm. The incident happened around 8 pm.
“As they were trying to disperse the protesting youths, they kept shooting a lot of guns. In fact, fear gripped everybody and the youths in the area were angry over this mindless killing”.
Some of the kids in the vicinity claimed that an officer in command of the Fadage police station fired the shot, while another claimed that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Adatan fired the shot.
When approached for comment on Saturday, SP Omolola Odutola, Spokesperson for Ogun State Police Command, verified the occurrence.
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Odutola, on the other hand, stated that Commissioner of Police Abiodun Alamutu had contacted all stakeholders in order to launch an investigation.
She said, “We have gotten the information that one Aanu was a victim. It is not easy to say exactly what happened but the CP is in touch with the stakeholders. He has called everybody involved so that we can start investigating what happened. We are aware, we have been informed, but we are still deliberating on the matter.”
