The Rivers State Police command has confirmed the death of a yet-to-be-identified man who was being chased by armed men along Illabouchi Street in the Diobu axis of Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Eyewitnesses said the assailants, who were in a vehicle, shot many times at the deceased when he ran towards the Emenike/Illabouchi Street in Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt.
One of the eyewitnesses, who did not want his name in print for fear of being traced, said, “After shooting the victim, the assailants zoomed off immediately.
“He was bleeding seriously but people were afraid to assist him because the gunshot made everyone run into their houses.”
Some residents linked the incident to the supremacy battle between suspected D12 and BS Houses of Deygbam cult groups which broke out at Elechi Beach, Mile 1, Diobu, Port Harcourt last week.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident.
She said the armed men were chasing the man along Illabouchi when he hit a pavement and sustained serious injuries.
“The man was rushed to hospital by a good Samaritan where he was confirmed dead.
“But an investigation is ongoing to ascertain the cause of the attack and fish out those behind it,” Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, said.
Our correspondent, who visited the scene minutes after the incident, saw police patrol vans attached to Diobu Divisional Police Headquarters, Mile 1 and Azikiwe Divisional Police Headquarters at the scene.
In a separate development, hoodlums suspected to be cultists on Sunday night mounted roadblocks at Uruala/Abakiliki Junction, Mile 1 Diobu, Port Harcourt and robbed passersby, motorists and road users for over 40 minutes.
Our correspondent gathered that the hoodlums also invaded and robbed shops at Lumbumba Street in Mile 1, Diobu at about 9pm on Sunday.
One of the victims, a motorist who gave his name as Tony Dike, narrated his ordeal to our reporter.
Dike stated, “At Abakiliki/Urualla Junction, some hoodlums on black and black, stopped my car with heavy stones.
“They shot into the air and said I should come down from my car. They started flogging and hitting me with machetes.
“They collected my phones and the money totalling N180,000.”
