Ajegunle shooting: police officer detained after bullet kills girl, injures another in Lagos

A police officer has been disarmed and detained in Lagos after a shot he fired killed a girl and injured another in the Ajegunle area of the state.

The incident happened between 9.30pm and 10pm on Thursday, 5 November, in the Nosamu area of Ajegunle. Police say officers were sent there after a distress call about a fight between two rival groups, the Nosamu Boys and the Alayabiagba Boys, who were reportedly armed with cutlasses and fighting over the collection of tolls.

According to a statement on Saturday by the Lagos police spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Omotayo Olajide, discharged his firearm, and the bullet hit two girls. One of them, identified as Omole Taiwo, died at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja. The second girl is said to be in a stable condition. Their ages were not given.

The police have not explained how the gun went off or whether the shot was aimed. The officer has been handed over to the State Criminal Investigation Department.

Lagos police chief Tijani Fatai went to see the dead girl's family and promised that any officer found guilty would not be shielded. Deaths caused by police gunfire have long been a source of public anger in Nigeria.