Robbers invade Imo restaurant, kill retired officer, wife

Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers on Sunday night invaded a restaurant beside Owerri Police Area Command, Imo State, killed a retired police officer and his wife, and snatched away a large sum of money from their daughter, who is operating a Point of Sales (POS), centre.

The command, located beside the popular Fire Service Junction by Wetheral Road, Owerri, Imo State capital city, is a busy vicinity.

The Guardian learnt that the restaurant was built by the command and rented to the public, largely wives of police officers, serving and retired, for restaurant, liquor and other shopping outlets.

According to a source, the incident happened at about 8:00p.m. as people were buying food and other wares around the scene of the incident.

The source told The Guardian that the hoodlums, who targeted the daughter of the late couple, demanded the bag of money she was dispensing to her customers, adding that she refused and threw the bag to her parents, prompting the robbers to shoot them.

According to him, the retired police officer died instantly, while his wife died in the hospital she was taken to for treatment.

The deceased retired police officer, according to close sources, hailed from Edo State, but decided to settle in Imo, operating jointly with his late wife in the food business, before they met their untimely deaths.

He said: “It happened at about 8:00p.m. The armed robbers stormed their daughter’s POS stand, demanded the money in her possession, which she was dispensing, but she refused, and was said to have thrown it to her mother, the father came out to intervene, leading to the armed bandits shooting both her father and mother. While the father died there, the mother died in the hospital as she was about to have treatment, because of the quantity of blood lost.”

When The Guardian visited the scene, yesterday, scores of sympathisers thronged the scene, while the area was cordoned off by police operatives.

Police authorities, who confirmed the incident, said scores of arrests have been made, while investigation was ongoing.