The Hyundai Sonata
A 32-YEAR-OLD ex-convict has been gunned down by a police officer in a purported gun battle at Katamansu, a suburb of Zenu in the Kpone-Katamanso District of the Greater Accra Region.
The deceased, Richard Opoku, was said to be a member of a carjacking gang of five who allegedly snatched a new Hyundai Sonata from its owner at gunpoint at the Titanic Beach in Community 3, Tema.
Four of his accomplices managed to escape during the shoot-out but Richard was hit with bullets in his chest, leading to his death.
The vehicle has been retrieved together with a cutlass and a mobile phone; and his lifeless body has been deposited at the Police Hospital in Accra.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Juliana Obeng, spokeswoman for the Tema police, narrating the incident that led to the death of the suspect, said that police picked information that the said saloon car with registration number GN 2590-16 which was being driven by one Suraj Umar, had been snatched from him at gun point at the Sakumono Beach (popularly known as Titanic Beach) at about 7pm.
According to her, preliminary investigations revealed that Suraj was sitting in the vehicle along the beach chatting with his girlfriend when five men (two of them in masks) and wielding a locally manufactured pistol, came out of nowhere and instructed them to get out of the vehicle.
“They were pulled out of the vehicle and escorted to the shore where they were abandoned,” ASP obeng said.
Suraj, the police spokeswoman said, returned some few minutes later to where he left the vehicle and discovered that it was not there.
According to her, Suraj, without wasting much time, reported the matter to the Community 2 police and investigation was immediately launched into the incident.
“Police patrol teams and snap checkpoints were alerted and were on the lookout for the car. A few hours later, a snap checkpoint at Katamansu intercepted a Hyundai saloon car that fits the description of the jacked car with passengers on board,” she pointed out.
ASP Obeng explained that police signaled the driver of the car to stop but he failed to do so and rather sped off, adding that a police officer detailed for that checkpoint pursued the vehicle with his personal motorbike until the driver of the saloon car, in an attempt to escape, hit the motorbike and ran into a ditch and began to open fire.
“The officer returned fire when he realized that his life was in danger and in the process, shot Richard Opoku, who was the driver, whiles his four other accomplices managed to escape,” according to ASP Obeng.
She asserted that investigation indicated that the deceased was an ex-convict who was granted bail by a Tema court about a week ago for a similar offence which was being investigated by the Tema Regional Police Command.
From Vincent Kubi, Katamansu