A 100-level female student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State has been killed by a stray bullet fired by some yet-to-be-identified hoodlums, suspected to be cultists.
The incident, it was gathered, happened late on Thursday, along the popular Miracle Junction in Ifite Awka.
Eyewitnesses in the area said the incident occurred as the hoodlums were chasing and aiming to shoot a yet-to-be-identified tricycle operator, but missed their target and one of the bullets hit the student who was walking by the roadside.
The deceased, identified simply as Uche, was said to be in the Medical Lab Department of the institution and was on her way to the market before the bullet hit her.
The source said, “This deceased was a 100-level student of the Faculty of Health Science, she was killed on Thursday evening by a stray bullet shot by suspected cultists who were chasing a tricycle operator at the popular Miracle Junction.
“The tricycle driver was shot too, and he pretended to be dead, but surprisingly, he stood up after a while and escaped when his attackers had left thinking he was dead.”
The corpse of the deceased was said to have been deposited at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Amaku Awka.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga confirmed the incident.
Ikenga said patrol and surveillance have been intensified in the area while calling on the eyewitnesses to come forward to furnish the police with relevant information to help the Command in its investigation.
He said, “It is very unfortunate, preliminary information revealed that the incident is cult-related and we are already working with eyewitnesses to identify the perpetrators and possibly arrest them.
“The command would not relent in waging war against cultism and other forms of crimes in the state, recently we just remanded 33 suspects in a cult-related incident. We also urge the residents of the State to always alert the police (through the Command’s control room number: 07039194332).”
