Police corporal mistakenly shoots wife in Lagos

A police corporal (names withheld) attached to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) Ikeja, La­gos Police Command, on Tuesday night, mistaken shot his wife in their resi­dence at Egbeda area of Lagos.

It was revealed that the officer, who is described as one of the best officers of the command, forgot to put the pistol on safety catch when he got home at about 10.00pm.

Excited to see her hus­band, the deceased hugged her husband and also helped him to hang his

clothes while they chatted about family issues.

He was about to remove the gun from its pouch when it allegedly fired and hit his wife who was sitting on their matrimo­nial bed on his laps.

Neigbours, who heard the gunshot said the cor­poral on realising what happened, grabbed his bleeding wife and raced to the nearest hospital. All efforts to save her failed.

At the command head­quarters, his colleagues were seen in groups dis­cussing the unfortunate incident.

One of them said: “ It is unfortunate that such a thing will happen to him. He was so close to his wife that he was always in a hurry to go home. We know that nothing can bring back the dead but we pray that the po­lice and her family will forgive him so that he can take care of his family.”

Describing the incident as unfortunate, a neigh­bour who spoke with our reporter, lamented it was the devil at work. “They were best of friends and the corporal is a cool-headed man. Unless he tells you, you will never know that he is a policeman.”

Meanwhile, the com­mand has commenced investigation into the un­fortunate incident to as­certain what actually hap­pened that night.

Confirming the in­cident, the command spokesman said it was a case of accidental dis­charge.