Policeman on raid allegedly kills Lagos tiler, shoots wife

The family of Abeeb Dauda, a 20-year-old tiler in the Amukoko area of Lagos State, has been thrown into mourning after he was allegedly shot dead by a policeman attached to the Amukoko Police Division.

The alleged killer cop, identified simply as Salako, was also said to have shot Abeeb’s wife, Lateefat, in the chest.

Reporters learnt that Salako and his colleagues had stormed Lasisi Street,  Amukoko, where the incident happened around 5pm on Sunday, after they received a distress call about a street fight in the area.

The policemen were said to have announced their presence in the neighbourhood with gunshots, which caused confusion among the residents.

In the ensuing panic, Abeeb, a father of two, reportedly rushed to his wife’s shop on the street to assist in packing her wares into the store.

Our correspondent learnt that as the couple were closing the shop, Salako surfaced, took Abeeb for one of the troublemakers and shot at him and his wife.

The bullet reportedly hit Abeeb in the stomach and ripped out his entrails, while his wife was hit in the chest.

An eyewitness, who gave his name only as Adekunle, said the couple were rushed to two different hospitals, adding that the husband died a few hours later.

He said, “There was a street fight and the Amukoko Police Division was contacted. By the time the policemen came, the fight had stopped and those involved had fled. The policemen started shooting indiscriminately, which made everyone to panic. A woman (Lateefat), who has a provision store on the street, was in the shop when the shooting started.

“Her husband (Abeeb) went there to assist her to pack her wares into the shop. Their two kids were also there. She strapped one of them on her back. As they wanted to leave the shop, one of the policemen called Salako shot at them and fled. The husband died on arrival at the hospital. The woman is responding to treatment. The bullet hit her in the chest. The man was a tiler and everybody knew him to be an easy-going person.”

Another eyewitness, Kehinde Ajibola, explained that residents protested the shooting at the police station, but were chased away.

He said Salako was notorious in the area for indiscriminate raids and urged the authorities to bring him to justice.

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Ajibola stated, “This was not the first time that policemen would come here to harass innocent residents. They will not come when the thugs are fighting and Salako is usually part of the team.

“We protested at the police station because Abeeb was a decent person. He had his job and was very responsible. It was painful that he died for no just cause. The policeman must be fished out and brought to justice.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, CSP Chike Oti, said there was a fight between two rival cult groups from Lasisi and Whose streets during which members of the two factions shot at each other.

He, however, said the police did not have the record of any fatality as a result of the incident.

Oti stated, “There was a cult war between two rival groups and policemen were called to restore order. The hoodlums were shooting at each other from a distance. The police tried to restore order by firing tear gas at the rampaging youths.

“We were able to restore normalcy and make some arrests. We did not receive any report that somebody was shot. Those hoodlums were shooting at each other. The person could be a victim of the crossfire.”