By 247ureports.com
Two police officers attached to the Ajaokuta Division in Kogi State died on Friday night in a shooting that reports describe as a suspected murder-suicide, and the Kogi State Police Command has opened an investigation.
The officers were named in reports as Corporal Amos Yusuf and Woman Corporal Grace Onimisi, though some accounts give her surname as Abraham, and 247ureports.com could not resolve the difference. The command’s spokesperson, ASP Afusat Saliu, confirmed in a statement that the incident happened on Friday, October 23, at ASCO Camp in Ajaokuta Local Government Area, that both officers were taken immediately to separate medical facilities and were confirmed dead there, and that their bodies have been deposited at the ASCO Hospital mortuary. One account says the incident was reported at about 11:04 p.m., and that the divisional police officer led a team to the scene.
According to a source cited in several reports, Yusuf was on night duty as a station guard, left his post a few hours after resuming at about 6 p.m., and went to the woman officer’s quarters, where the shooting took place. The same unverified accounts say the two had dated for some years and had recently had trust issues, with allegations of infidelity. Social media posts add that they joined the force in the same year, were trained and posted together and were from Kogi State. The police have not confirmed any of this.
The command has been careful in its wording. Saliu declined to say that the deaths were a murder-suicide, saying she could not say whether it was one until the investigation is concluded, and urged the public not to jump to conclusions. The investigation will have to establish the sequence of events, how an officer on guard duty came to leave his post with a weapon, and whether earlier complaints about the relationship were handled properly.
The deaths raise wider questions about the welfare and mental health support available to junior officers who live in barracks and carry service weapons, and about how the force handles disputes between personnel. If you or someone you know is struggling, please talk to someone you trust or to a mental health professional.
