By Kamsi Anayo
Gunmen wearing black jackets suspected to be Anti-Touts Operatives of Anambra state government on Thursday, shot dead a young man along the Onitsha-Owerri Road, by Obodoukwu junction in Onitsha.
The deceased, identified as Chimezie Udoji, is said to have just completed his mandatory national youth service.
He was shot while sitting on the balcony of their family home located along Obodoukwu Road by the Shoe Site, near Okpoko Police Station, in Ogbaru council area.
The incident happened when some youths were protesting against arrests, harassment, and extortion by the men said to be anti-tout operatives in the area.
Some residents said the demonstrators were equally protesting against the activities of tricycle revenue agents.
Some of the tricycle operators, who spoke with journalists, said the tricycle revenue agents, claiming to be working for the state government, have been extorting them.
They said the anti-tout operatives emerged at Obodoukwu junction and started shooting sporadically into the air apparently to scare the protesters away.
It was gathered that the deceased was hit with a stray bullet and died instantly.
A police officer from Okpoko Police Station confirmed the incident and said the corpse had been evacuated.
The officer, who preferred not to be named, said: “The youth in the area were protesting against the midnight arrest by anti-tout operatives and this morning the anti-touts came back and opened fire on them and in the process, the victim was killed.”
The police spokesman in the state, Ikenga Tochukwu, neither responded to calls nor replied a text message sent to his phone as of the time of filing this report.