It was a case of poetic justice for a four-man armed robbery gang as one of them shot one of his colleagues to death as they made desperate attempts to escape mob action in Yenegoa, the Bayelsa state capital, on Monday night. The incident, which took place at around 8pm along the Imgbi Road, Amarata, came few days after the killing of a 17-year-old student of the Niger Delta University by suspected cult members.
The four young men, suspected to be cult members, allegedly stormed two supermarkets opposite a first generation bank on Imgbi Road, with locally-made handguns and rob the owner of one of the supermarkets at gunpoint.
Luck however ran out on them as their attempt to enter the other supermarket was thwarted by the bravery of one of the residents, who hauled a stone at them and attracted more residents, who reportedly gave them a chase.
As they were fleeing the scene in a tricycle, a man driving an SUV collided with the tricycle from behind, making it to tumble near the bank premises. Eyewitnesses said it was the gunshot of one of the robbers, in his desperation to escape, that hit his colleague, who was the driver of the tricycle.
While the three others scaled a fence to escape, the one hit by the bullet was unable to escape and was apprehended, but bled to death before the police could arrive.
When our correspondent got to the scene of the incident, the corpse of the dead member of the gang was still on the ground, while a locally-made hand gun and the tricycle used for the operation were recovered by the mob and handed over to the police. When contacted, the spokesman for the state Police Command, DSP Butswat Asinim, did not pick his phone and did not call back as of the time of filing this report.
