Delta State Police Command, led by CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, on Thursday confirmed that a vigilante attached to a hotel in Sapele fatally shot three persons while on guard duty.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday, December 1, at Ibada-Elume Community in Sapele, according to DAILY POST.
Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the development during a telephone conversation with our correspondent in Warri.
According to the police spokesperson, “The suspect who shot is at large.”
It was gathered that power supply went out in the hotel in the early hours of Monday, December 1, prompting some youths staying there to step outside due to the heat.
They reportedly began making noise within the premises, and the vigilante on duty ordered them back into their rooms, threatening to shoot.
The youths refused and challenged him to carry out the threat. The vigilante then opened fire, shooting one of them. The victim was rushed to the hospital but was confirmed dead.
Outraged by the incident, the youths mobilised to the hotel, but by the time they returned, the vigilante had regrouped, and in an attempt to fend them off, he and others shot and killed two more persons on the spot.
The youths withdrew and attempted to launch a reprisal attack, but the vigilante fled before they arrived.
The hotel was eventually set ablaze by the youths. The case is now being handled by the Sapele Area Command of the Nigeria Police Force.
