Bread seller stabbed, shot dead by gunmen in Asaba

A bread seller, in his late twenties was Thursday shot dead by unknown assailants at the ever busy Ibusa Traffic Junction in the heart of Asaba, Delta state capital.

Our correspondent captured the deceased, lying in the pool of his blood at the T-junction dual carriage road, precipitating traffic jam and pensive atmosphere along the popular Nnebisi Road.

The deceased, popularly known as A’Boy, was reportedly married with a child.

Daily Trust learnt the victim was a suspected cultist and his gruesome murder was speculated for a reprisal attack by a rival cult group.

As the news broke out, his pregnant wife, ran out of the house nearby and slumped beside him on the very busy junction.

Residents and traders around the area hastily packed up, locked up their stalls and scampered for safety for fear of being attacked.

Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that the masked assailants numbered four came in a tricycle, popularly called Keke and called on the bread seller to bring bread for purchase.

The deceased had crossed the gutter in front of his bread shed and inched close to the occupants to deliver some loaves, when he screamed in pain, shouting he has been stabbed.

In a matter of split seconds, the eyewitnesses recounted that they heard gunshot which hit the young man in the stomach, bringing him flat on his back on the hard tarred ground in a thud.

“To confirm the job was thoroughly done, on the assailants in mask, alighted from the Keke and shot the man straight on the forehead, before firing another shot into the air to scare people as they fled the scene”, an eyewitness narrated to this correspondent.

It, however, took the intervention of the Police patrol team from the State Police Command who were immediately alerted to restore normalcy in the area before taking the body away in a van.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Andrew Aniamaka said they have not been briefed on the incident as at the time of filing this report.