A police officer has mistaken his own colleague for a robber, shooting him dead in the city of Enugu and the Police Command in Enugu State on Monday said it has commenced investigations into the incidence.
The culprit reportedly mistook his arms-bearing colleague for a robber because he was in mufti.
NAN reports that the incident occurred at the Independence Layout axis of the city on Saturday night during a downpour.
The Command’s spokesman, Superintendent of Police Ebere Amaraizu, told NAN in Enugu that, “It is one of the operational hazards of the job. It was a mistake.
“The main Police patrol team in that axis of the city was on a patrol duty and it responded to a distress call and mistook the arm-bearing plain-clothed policeman for an armed robber.
“Also, the unfortunate incident happened due to the hour of the night as well as the downpour, which could not allow the patrol team to clearly identify the plain-clothed policeman before the gun was shot,’’ he said.
Amaraizu said that when the incident happened, the police personnel quickly took the injured policeman to a nearby hospital but he died after some hours.
NAN