The Lagos State Police Command has detained an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Omotayo Olajide, after his firearm discharged during a police operation in Ajegunle, killing a girl and injuring another.
The incident occurred on Thursday, November 5, between 9.30 pm and 10 pm, in the Nosamu area of Ajegunle, during a police response to a violent clash between two rival groups identified as the Nosamu Boys and Alayabiagba Boys.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Adebisi, said preliminary investigations showed that Olajide discharged his firearm during the operation, hitting the two girls.
The police said officers had been deployed following a distress call over a violent confrontation between the rival groups, reportedly triggered by a dispute over toll collection.
“Preliminary findings show that the personnel had been deployed after a distress call about a violent clash between two rival groups, the Nosamu Boys and the Alayabiagba Boys, over toll collection. The groups were reportedly armed with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.
“During the operation, ASP Olajide discharged his firearm, and the bullet struck the two girls. Both girls were rushed to Ajeromi General Hospital. One was later transferred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, where she gave up. The other child is receiving medical attention and is in stable condition,” the statement said.
The command identified the deceased as Omole Taiwo.
It added that Olajide had been disarmed and detained, while the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
“The inquiry will establish exactly what happened and determine the appropriate legal and disciplinary action,” the police said.
The Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, subsequently visited the bereaved family to offer his condolences and assured them that the investigation would be thorough.
Fatai also pledged that any officer found culpable would face the appropriate consequences, stressing that no one would be shielded.
However, the police statement did not clarify whether the officer deliberately fired during the confrontation, whether the girls were caught in the line of fire or whether the weapon discharged accidentally.
The incident recalls a similar fatal shooting in Ajegunle in April 2019, when 20-year-old Ada Ifeanyi was killed and another man, Emmanuel Akomafuwa, was injured.
