A police sergeant, attached to Shomolu Police Station, Lagos State, has been arrested for indiscriminatingly shooting and killing a civilian in the Shomolu area of the state.
The sergeant, Sunday Ajide, and his team were said to have shot and killed the victim while attempting to target the tyre of the vehicle of a suspected robber, believed to be speeding away.
Rather than get the tyre of the vehicle of the alleged fleeing robber, the bullet got the civilian who was busy on the other side of the road changing his car tyres at a vulcaniser’s workshop.
The death of the deceased sparked off a protest in the community.
A mob was said to have confronted Ajide and his men and would have lynched them, but for police re-enforcement, which came from the station.
According to a police source, Ajide, as a patrol commander in that axis, was on duty with his team when they received a distress call.
The distress was that armed robbers were operating around the Shomolu axis.
The incident occurred around 4:30pm.
The vigilant Ajide quickly gathered his men into their patrol van and off they went, heading towards the direction the distress caller identified.
The team suddenly noticed a speeding Honda Accord car and sensed the occupants were the alleged robbers.
“It was Sunday himself who flagged the Honda Accord driver, but he refused to stop,” said another police source. “Sunday now aimed for the car tyres, but the bullets failed to hit target. Sunday and his men started chasing the Honda Accord until the car got to traffic jam and was forced to stop. The driver was searched, but nothing incriminating was found on him.
“There was no gun, nothing! The man’s vehicle papers were complete and up to date. The policemen were forced to allow him to go.”
It was just as Ajide and his men were returning to base that they were stopped by an angry mob.
The mob told them that their sporadic flying bullets got a man changing tyres and that he died.
After police re-enforcement rescued Ajide and his team, they were taken to the Police Headquarters, Ikeja, where X-Squad team took over the investigation and interrogation of the patrol commander.
After facing the squad at X-Squad, Ajide was handed over to the Provost Office for orderly room trial.
He was accused of using his rifle recklessly.
He was also reminded that in police regulation, it was better to allow 1,000 armed robbers to escape than to kill an innocent person.
He was dismissed and presently in detention, waiting to be charged to court for prosecution.
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