Miss Naomi Kpodzro, a first year Fashion and Design student of the Ho Polytechnic was found in a pool of blood in a privately operated hostel outside the Polytechnic and rushed to the Regional hospital where she was pronounced dead around 06.30 hours on Tuesday.

Astatement signed by Mr Isaac Meyir, Public Relations Officer of the Polytechnic (PRO) and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the security at the said hostel reportedly heard gunshots “around the room of the deceased but “the attacker rushed out of the deceased’s room wielding a gun and a knife and managed to flee the hostel.”

The deceased’s room-mate was not in the room at the time of the incident, it added.

A counselling session was organized for the rest of the traumatized students at the Hostel, and security at that hostel scaled up.

The statement appealed to the Polytechnic community, especially students and the general public to volunteer information that would help the Police in their investigations.

Meanwhile, the Ho Polytechnic would from next academic year take charge of private hostels being occupied by its students.

The Polytechnic, the Association of Private Hostel Owners and the Ho Municipal Assembly have been working on the arrangement for a year now, Mr Meyir told the Ghana News Agency in an interview.

Under the arrangement the Polytechnic will select the hostels based on some criteria, pay the owners upfront and allocate them to students.

The Polytechnic currently has three hostels of its own with the majority of students scattered among a number of hostels in the vicinity of that institution.

Mr Meyir said at the moment the Polytechnic had coordinators attached to private hostels who reported to the authorities.