Stray bullet kills 20-month-old child

A stray bullet at Umuoba-Uratta, a community in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State has killed a 20-month-old child, in an incident which occurred at about 10 p.m. on Monday, while it was not clear who fired the gunshot and why.

Penpushing reports that the innocent 20-month-old baby identified as Emmanuel, was the third child of a couple, and during an interview with the bereaved mother, Kelechi Eleweke, expressed shock over the mysterious circumstances of the boy’s death.

“I was with him yesterday (Monday) night on my bed after dinner and night prayer. And one of my prayer points was that his father will not die prematurely. My son answered Amen’, the bereaved mother said.

‘We got playing until he lay on my body to sleep. Suddenly, he rolled down from my body and lay on the bed. He refused to sleep, in spite of my effort to lull him to sleep on my body. Instead, he shrugged off’, she stated.

“A few seconds later, I heard a huge sound and felt a splash of sand-like objects on my body. This was followed by my son’s scream for help. He persistently shouted ‘mummy, mummy. The next thing I saw was blood all over his body and on the bed’, the woman lamented

Penpushing further reports that the mother said that she quickly carried the child and rushed outside for help, adding that her husband too got up and they made efforts to get to a nearby private hospital

The woman narrated that when they got to a hospital, a man, apparently a Doctor, demanded a police report as a condition for attending to the child, adding that after appealing for several minutes, the man put a bandage around the boy’s head and directed them to take him to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owerri.

Penpushing also reports that the mother said that because she was half-dressed, she quickly returned home while her husband continued to try to save their son, while the child’s father, Okechukwu, said that after waiting for a while on the road, he finally got a vehicle that took them to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) and was later pronounced dead

“My husband too got up and we made efforts to get to a nearby private hospital. For the period we were in transit, I can say the boy was alive until we got to the FMC gate. But getting into the emergency paediatric ward, the doctor on duty quickly examined him and pronounced him dead on arrival.”

Penpushing reports that the father said his family could not explain where the bullet that killed their child came from, stating that, the family, however, learnt on Tuesday morning that there were sporadic gunshots in the area on Monday night.

“I didn’t know about the gunshots until this (Tuesday) morning, when my neighbours talked about them. They said that some people were shooting around our area in the night. Whatever they were celebrating that led to my son’s death, we don’t know,” Okechukwu said.

Penpushing further reports that as at the time of filing this report the Imo State Police Command Public Relations Officer Henry Okoye, was yet to make any official statement on the incident.

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