Correspondence from the Eastern Region

One person was shot dead and eight others injured on Friday, October 27, 2023, in an apparent targeted murder at Adome, a suburb of Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region.

Armed men belonging to one faction of a chieftaincy divide were on a procession through the streets of the community with a palanquin amidst sporadic shootings.

GhanaWeb gathered that at Adome, the deceased, Emmanuel Tetteh Narh, also known as Ozibo was gunned down after being pointed out by one of the men.

The men were on a procession through the streets of Adome and heading towards Odumase amidst sporadic gunfire.

The 55-year-old, married with four children died when the gunmen shot him at close range close to his house.

Narrating the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting, an eyewitness who identified himself as Robert, a nephew of the deceased said he was in the house with the deceased around 7 am when they heard sounds of gunshots by the roadside.

“There were sporadic gunshots by the roadside, my uncle was going there and I told him not to because there were gunshots but he stepped out…I saw one of the gunmen called Tackie pointing his gun at him and the next thing, they fired at him and he fell in the gutter,” narrated the eyewitness.

He furthered that the assailants after the act, pursued him but he managed to escape.

Another eyewitness, narrating the incident said the killers targeted the deceased with the intent to murder him.

“When they got there, one of the men pointed to him (deceased) and said, ‘That’s Ozibo,’ and they shot him."

The men continued with the sporadic shooting for about half a kilometre where they accosted a niece of the deceased, Jasmine Dede Narh together with a male neighbour while on their way to the hospital to follow up on her uncle who had been shot.

The assailants while confronting the woman, shot indiscriminately, injuring eight bystanders including a prison officer, in the process.

Recounting her ordeal and the subsequent shooting of the injured persons, Miss Narh said about six men stopped their car and assaulted the driver.

“As soon as we turned towards the Lasi area, they started shooting the car so I told the driver to stop and he stopped, I saw some goons, about six of them, they pointed the gun at the driver so he raised his hands,” she narrated.

She said the men, some of whom she identified, assaulted the driver with whips and again pointed the gun at her.

The sporadic shooting on the scene, she said, resulted in gunshot injuries to the victims who were innocent bystanders.

“Some people received bullets, left, right, centre,” she said.

Some youth of the Adome community managed to capture one of the gunmen who after severe battering told his captors upon interrogation that he was a Dodowa-based driver and had no idea what he got involved in.

Giving his name as Effah Samuel, he said, “I’m a trotro driver who drove them from Dodowa to this place and they dressed me up and asked me to join them, I didn’t have any idea what this is all about," he told them.

He was, however, rescued by the timely arrival of police personnel from the Odumase police station who responded to the disturbances.

The remains of the deceased have been deposited at the mortuary of the St. Martin’s De Porres hospital while the victims are receiving care at the same facility.

Meanwhile, the alleged gunman is also receiving treatment at the hospital under police guard.