A 25-year-old man, Moses Adam, has passed on after he was hit by a stray bullet fired by a police officer in Benin City, Edo State.
The unfortunate incident occurred on Friday, September 17, when the deceased, said to be the only son of his parents, arrived in Benin from Lagos to attend his sister’s wedding.
Spokesperson of the command, SP Kontongs Bello, in a statement, said Adam was in a bus when he was hit by the stray bullet fired by an officer who was trying to arrest a murder suspect, Ebuka Nwaechie.
The police added that he was rushed to the Edo Specialist Hospital where he gave up the ghost.
The erring officer has been arrested and will go through administrative trial that will determine his culpability.
Police said Nwaechie was allegedly involved in the alleged murder of one Bright Orikose on December 24, 2020.
However, Esther, one of Adam’s elder sisters, disagreed with the account. She lamented the attempt by the police to twist the narrative.
“My brother was not killed by a stray bullet as the police claimed. He was aimed at in the second car which Ebuka was not even inside. While treating my brother, the doctor told us that he was hit by a close-range bullet and that he lost so much blood before his death,” she said.
According to a report by Foundation For Investigative Journalism (FIJ), the deceased was driving with his friend, Kelvin Uwumunse, when “some police detectives in mufti violently waylaid their cars.”
The report said Adam and his friends were unsure of the identity of the people, so they tried to make a detour, but gunshots were fired at them, one of which hit Adam in his thigh.
It was gathered that the police later arrested and detained three of Adam’s friends. They also reportedly failed to document the shooting at the station.
“It was after we got to the hospital that the police believed and gave us N120,000 for the treatment,” the family lawyer told FIJ.