Police last Friday gunned down two suspected armed robbers at Beeri, a suburb of Takpo, in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region.
The two, believed to be Fulanis, died during exchanges of fire with the police.
Four other members of the gang, who sustained gunshot wounds, absconded, when the police went to arrest them for allegedly robbing a gold dealer of unspecified amount of money.
According to a source close to the police, the suspected robbers allegedly hijacked their victim, Emmanuel Baduman, on his way from Takpo to Wa, and robbed him of an unspecified amount of money on Thursday.
The robbers, who were wielding AK47 riffles, were said to have fired several gunshots indiscriminately after the incident, to scare pursuers away, but ended up hitting two residents with stray bullets.
“The stray bullets killed a 24-year-old man, Emmanuel Miilu, instantly whereas the other victim, 54-year-old Emelia Sumani is on admission at the Nadowli District Hospital under emergency care,” the source stated.
Confirming the incident to the media in Wa over the weekend, the Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (DCOP) Francis Aboagye Nyarko stated that the police received a distress call on the invasion of the armed robbers at Takpo at 7:30pm on Thursday, and dispatched personnel to the community.
He stated that the police with assistance from the community members pursued the suspects to their hideouts in a bid to arrest them.
“The suspects engaged in exchanges of fire with the police, as they were wielding sophisticated arms, but the police managed to gun down two of them, whereas the others, some of whom sustained gunshot wounds, managed to escape,” he said.
DCOP Aboagye said the police retrieved two live and eleven spent ammunitions as well as three unregistered Apsonic motorcycles from the suspects.
He added that 62-year-old, Adam Ibando, was also picked up by the police for harbouring the suspects in his house at Naribu, a surburb of Takpo.
The Regional Commander called on healthcare providers in the region to alert the police when they chanced on persons with gunshot wounds at their facilities.
The bodies of the deceased (suspects) have since been deposited at the mortuary.
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