Military personnel and policemen on Friday prevented an irate mob from setting ablaze a filling station in Onitsha, Anambra, after a security guard shot dead a middle-aged man over N500.
The incident occurred at about 10.00 a.m. at Ona-Jones Oil filling station near the Nkpor flyover on Enugu-Onitsha expressway, Nkpor, near Onitsha.
An eyewitness said that soldiers and policemen arrived the scene and dispersed the mob, while they were mobilising to set the filling station ablaze.
He said, “Trouble started when the victim had a disagreement over N500 balance from a business transaction with an alleged GSM phone repairer near the filling station.
“The security guard interfered in the matter and ordered both of them to kneel down. They obeyed but his hands touched the trigger and the bullet hit the boy and he died instantly”
The eyewitness said that the owner of the filling station alerted the police when passersby gathered tyres to set the filling station ablaze.
“On arrival, the military personnel and policemen cordoned-off the station, dispersed the mob, arrested the security guard and whisked him off to Ogidi Police Division,” the source added.
Another eyewitness said that the policemen took the corpse of the yet to be identified victim to a nearby mortuary.
The Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Ogidi, CSP Hassan Musa, confirmed the incident. He said the security guard has been arrested.
