CHAOS IN HO AS POLICE SHOT AND KILLED A ‘SUSPECTED CRIMINAL’

Listen to  My report from the incident scene

Police pushing a suspect into the vehicle

There was chaos in Ho, the Volta regional capital Sunday morning, when angry youth of Anlokordzi; a suburb of Ho clashed with police officers following the killing of one of their colleagues by the police in the area. 

 The incident occurred during a dawn swoop by the police in the area noted for harboring suspected criminals and wee smokers.
Police sources disclosed that, the young man suspected to be a criminal  was shot and killed when he allegedly attempted to stab a Police officer with a knife.

But  eyewitnesses at the scene said the deceased, Atsu Mensah was rather shot and killed at a short range in the neck by one of the police officers when he attempted to escape, after eight of them were arrested in 'Kpako' house, located behind the Metro mass Transit terminal, close to the Ho central market. This angered the youth of the area, who mass up with machetes, stones and sticks and attacked police officers who were at the scene to convey the corpse to the morgue.

Empty pellets at the clash scene

Sensing danger,  the police officers retreated to the Ho central police station , firing several warming shots to disperse the angry mob who followed and threw stones and sticks at them. The mob also burnt car tyres and created blockades on the road in front of the police station with logs and cement blocks before a reinforcement of armed police and military personnel arrived at the scene to put the situation under control.

The incident has left several people sustaining various degrees of injuries, with 13 suspects so far arrested.

As of Sunday afternoon, relative calm have returned to the area as a team of police and military personnel are on patrol in the area.

Meanwhile, the Volta regional Security Council (RESEC) in a press statement signed by the regional minister, who is also the chairman of RESEC, Henry Ford Kamel have expressed its condolences to the bereaved family and called on the citizens of Anlokordzi to exercise restraint and remain calm. The statement concluded by assuring the good citizens of Ho that, 'a transparent and independent committee of enquiry would be set up to investigate the unfortunate incident.

In a related development, the Volta Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and a correspondent for the Daily Graphic Mr Victor Kwawukume, have been allegedly assaulted by the police for taking photographs of the chaotic situation.

Mr Kwawukume who narrated his ordeal, said he was at the scene taking notes and pictures as the police arrested people and beat suspects with batons and gun buts, when the police rushed on him and assaulted him severally on the face and head.

He said though he identified himself as a media personnel, the police pounced on him until a police friend of his came to his rescue.

The GJA chairman said the police seized his camera, and asked him to come for it at the Ho central Police Station, which He later collected at the Station with some journalists and he was ordered to delete all the pictures he took.