Olaitan Tiamiyu, a 13-year-old kid in Oyo State, barely survived being shot by a night guard who thought he was a thief.
On Monday evening, the teen was riding his father’s motorcycle when the event occurred in Wajawaja Community in the Apete neighborhood of Ibadan.
But when the rider waved him to halt, the night watchman, Mr. Akeem Babalola, claimed that he believed the man to be a thief and that he drove away.
The Nigerian Tribune claims that when the incident happened, the boy’s father, Alhaji Monsuru Tiamiyu, was his route home with his kid, whom he had gone to pick up from his mother’s store.
According to a community member who wished to remain anonymous, the man noticed flashlights while driving past Alapata Community on Apete-Akufo Road.
He accelerated and moved away from the persons whose faces he could not see, believing them to be robbers.
“He thought he had left them behind, but what he heard next was a loud bang from a gunshot. Then his son cried out that he had been hit,” the source stated.
The stunned father reportedly returned to the shooter’s location and embraced his son while he writhed in agony. According to reports, two of his fellow guards ran away when they realized their supervisor recognized the motorcyclist.
According to the source, the father instructed his son to phone their neighbors and family members in distress, and they quickly arrived at the scene of the tragedy.
It was also reported that the crowd that had assembled pummeled the gunman till he passed out after spotting the youngster who had been shot.
The night guard was transported to a private hospital for immediate medical attention for his injured head and face, while the child was rushed to a nearby physician to have eleven pellets extracted from his left thigh, buttock, and back.
The JSS3 student described his experience from his hospital bed as follows: “We live at Lamini Community. We were going home from my mother’s shop at Yidi area on Monday. We initially wanted to stop to pick something from our second shop at Alapata Community, but my daddy decided against it because it was late.
“As we were on the road, we saw flashlights beamed in our direction. We saw men on the road standing on each side of it. We thought they were robbers, so my father sped past them to avoid an attack.
“As we were about to negotiate a corner, one of them fired a shot at us, hitting my thigh and back. It hit my father on his buttock. I cried out, telling my father that I had been hit when my leg went numb and cold. I saw blood flowing. I fell and sat on the ground.
“My father was so scared and angry. He turned back immediately and held the shooter. The night guard recognized my father but started using the flat side of his cutlass and charms to beat him. Initially, they didn’t allow us to call anyone. By then, I was bleeding and feeling weaker. My father held the shooter while the two others ran away. Eventually, I called my mother and informed her. She came with members of the landlords’ association.”
When the night guard noticed the injured youngster bleeding, other witnesses who had heard the disturbance and had hurried to the site reportedly swarmed on him. It was said that the people of the Wajawaja Community who had first arrived had raced away upon witnessing the turn of events.
The 55-year-old night watchman, Mr. Babalola, who revealed that he also runs a company that makes concrete blocks, explained that he thought the motorcyclist was a thief.
“We usually resume duty at 11pm at Wajawaja Community where I was employed. I have two other men working with me. At about 11:50pm, I noticed a motorcycle rider coming towards where I was on the road. As the rider saw us ahead with flashlights, he made a turn,” the guard narrated.
“Seeing the way he quickly turned, I suspected him to be a thief trying to escape being caught. I told the two others to be on the watch out as he might be planning to commit crime.
“At about 12:10am on Tuesday, the rider emerged again. As he was about to reach us, we waved him to a stop but he didn’t. He almost hit one of my men. I didn’t know that my finger was on the trigger of the dane gun I had with me. I just heard its sound, and it fell from my hand.
The man turned and began to yell that his son had been shot. I knew who he was by the time I got a good look at him.
“I told him of the need to quickly rush the boy to a hospital, but he held me and asked his son to call those he knew. Shortly after, some men arrived, brandishing guns.
“My dane gun was forcibly collected while they started beating me. They broke bottles on my head and stabbed me in different places. I lost consciousness and only found myself in the hospital.”
He said that the complainant was merely attempting to damage him by accusing him of using charms to beat him, and he posed the rhetorical question of how someone who had been the target of charms could still survive.
The incident was confirmed by State Police Command spokesperson CSP Adewale Osifeso.
He said was already being investigated, and an update would be provided.