Police arrest man who shot dead 11-year-old boy while testing locally made gun

Police in Delta State, South-south Nigeria, have arrested a man who shot dead an 11-year-old boy, Hossana Merrit, while testing a locally made gun, an official has said.

The incident occurred on 22 August in the Ozoro area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Bright Edafe, disclosed this in a message he posted on Twitter on Tuesday.

Mr Edafe identified the suspect as Kome Ogage, a 27-year-old man. He said the suspect abandoned the house after allegedly killing the boy.

He posted a photo of Mr Ogage holding a weapon, apparently the one he was said to have used in shooting the victim.

The police spokesperson in his first tweet, where he announced the death of the little boy, five days ago, called on members of the public to volunteer information that could lead to the suspect’s arrest, to enable the late boy to get justice.

The appeal paid off as Mr Edafe, in his second tweet on the matter, announced the arrest of Mr Ogage.

“He (suspect) was brought to the station today (Tuesday) by a relative after he saw our tweets that went viral,” Mr Edafe, a deputy superintendent of police, tweeted. He thanked Twitter users who retweeted the post.

Mr Edafe’s first tweet had 1,521 retweets and over a thousand likes by Tuesday evening.

“The little boy will get justice for sure now,” Mr Edafe said in his tweet announcing the suspect’s arrest.