Guard shot by Lagos policemen in critical condition

Doctors at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja are battling to save the life of a security guard, Joshua Musa, who was shot by policemen after a robbery at a house in Ikota, Lagos, on Saturday.

Joshua, 22, who could not speak when our correspondent visited him at the surgical emergency ward on Monday, was shot in the left side of the chest and abdomen by the policemen, who responded to a distress call when armed robbers stormed the house.

Joshua had a pipe passed to the two entry wounds in his chest and abdomen.

The security guard’s brother, Nuhu, who also witnessed the incident, said the five policemen started shooting sporadically immediately they came into the compound after the robbers had left.

“They came about one hour after the robbers were gone. The policemen were shooting at anything that moved,” he said.

Nuhu said Joshua was running towards where he took cover when he was shot.

He said, “Where I was when the shooting started was a little safe, but when Joshua realised that they started shooting at the residents, he ran to join me.

“But a policeman sighted him, turned and fired in his direction. He was hit twice.”

One of the bullets was said to have gone through Joshua’s chest and went out of his back. The second one was lodged in his abdomen but removed in the hospital.

Nuhu said another tenant, Femi Badejo, a banker, pleaded with the policemen that he was a tenant in the house but they shot at him and when he hid under a car, they kept shooting at him.

According to him, a woman who offered to show the policemen her room just to assure them she resided in the house was also shot but the bullet only grazed her head.

Joshua’s uncle, Adamu Askira, was seething in anger at the hospital, saying the policemen acted irresponsibly.

Askira,  a retired assistant suprintendent of police, said Joshua had received four pints of blood since he got to the hospital.

He said, “That operation by the policemen was cowardly. How can you get to a robbery scene and start to shoot everything you see?

“The normal thing to do is to ensure that the occupants of the house are first identified. Anybody else who has no business in the house can then be grabbed.

“That line of action by the policemen is utter foolishness. I was a policeman but I cannot give a sensible explanation to what those men did.’’

Doctors in charge of Joshua could not comment on record because of the hospital’s policies.

Joshua was being prepared for a scan to determine if any bullet fragment was still lodged in his body when our correspondent got to the hospital on Monday.

His wife fanned him on a bed he was lying.. She however declined to speak to our correspondent.

Joshua’s uncle said he had not decided what the line of action would be against the police’s unprofessional conduct, saying what was uppermost in his mind was his nephew’s life.

Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said the Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, had ordered an investigation into the incident.

She said, “When I spoke with the area commander on Sunday, he said after they received the distress call, a team was sent there and they met the banker lying under the vehicle.

“I think they must have thought he was one of the robbers because as the team was coming, someone within the house was telling them that the robbers were still in the compound. They then shot him but they met the security guard already shot.”