*Deploys personnel, to fortify affected area
*Attacks were seen, spoke English with Yoruba intonation – Eyewitness
By KEMI KASUMU
The Ondo State Police Command has described Sunday’s attack on St Francis Catholic Church, Owa-Luwa Street, Owo, Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, as action of some gunmen, whose real mission are still under investigation.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Funmilayo Odunlami, made this known in a statement Sunday night.
The Command had, earlier in a report by The DEFENDER, warned against people spreading news they did not know about while promising to get back to the public after investigating to know what actually happened.
In preliminary investigation report contained in Odunlami’s statement, she said some armed men numbering up to four had invaded the church shooting from outside and into the church at service time killing some worshippers with some sustained injury of varying degrees.
“Today, Sunday 5th June, 2022 at about 11:30am, while the Church service was ongoing, some armed men invaded the church and attacked members of the church, where some lives were lost and some sustained varying degrees of injuries.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the assailants approached the church during the service, started shooting from outside the church while others numbering about 4 (four) shot directly into the church.
“The CP while commiserating with the Church, family of the deceased, the People of Owo and Ondo State Government, has ordered immediate deployment of armed and specialised policemen to the area to restore normalcy and fortify the entire community.
“Meanwhile, the CP has equally ordered Forensic Investigation into the attack to ascertain the actual or remote cause(s) of the attack and for immediate arrest of the assailants as all hands are deck to forestall any similar attack in any part of the state.”
