Gunmen kill two police officers in Rivers

Gunmen shot and killed two police officers on Monday night. Another officer was badly hurt along the Obiri-Kwere area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers State.

The three officers were from the Aluu Division in Ikwerre Local Government Area. They were carrying out a routine stop-and-search at a checkpoint on the Mbodo/Aluu Road when the attackers opened fire around 9 pm.

After the shooting, the gunmen quickly sped away in their vehicle. This incident happened just a day after the Rivers State Police Command announced the arrest of a suspected high-profile criminal named Austine Emenike, also known as “Oyibo.” The police also recovered one locally made pistol, four single-barrel guns, and five live cartridges from him.

The police spokesperson on Monday said Emenike is connected to a larger criminal network. In the recent shooting, a video that is spreading on social media shows the dead officers still in their uniforms, lying in pools of blood at the scene.

In the video shared with our reporter, a voice in the background said the gunmen were robbing people in the area before shooting at the officers and then fleeing. The voice said, “You can see, it happened now. Armed robbers came here and robbed everybody. They killed these policemen. Look at their bodies.”

On Tuesday, the police spokesperson for the state, Blessing Agabe, confirmed the incident and stated that investigations are ongoing. Agabe, who is an Assistant Superintendent of Police, mentioned that the state Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Adepoju, visited the scene on Tuesday morning with his management team to assess what happened.

She said, “Yes, I can confirm. Two of our men died, and the other one was injured and is receiving treatment in the Hospital. The Commissioner of Police, with other members of the command’s management team, visited the scene of the incident this morning to assess the situation, and the investigation is ongoing.”