Plateau attack: How mother escaped with toddler as gunmen kill husband, five others

CRIME NEWS

Plateau attack: How mother escaped with toddler as gunmen kill husband, five others

Six members of the same family were on Monday murdered in Nghakai village in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Nghakai village is 15km West of College of Nursing, Vom, a village bordering Jos South LGA of the state.

The attack, which was said to have taken place at about 8pm, was reportedly carried out by unknown gunmen, who spoke amateur versions of Berom and Fulani languages, an eyewitness said.

Narrating the incident and how she escaped by the whiskers, Mrs. Lyop Gideon who survived the attack alongside her 1-year-old baby, said the attackers killed her husband, Mr. Gideon Gyang, 30, his parents, two siblings and a cousin before fleeing through a mountain-bound valley.

The 25-year-old mother-of-one said she escaped by pretending to be dead, while her baby, Esther Gideon, was unhurt in her slain grandmother’s arms.

“I laid flat on the ground as they opened fire, killing everyone.

“My baby yelled from my dead mother in-law’s arms but she was unhurt,” Mrs. Gideon said.

According to her, the family was having dinner together when the armed men attacked.

She said, “My husband was in our room few meters away from my father in-law’s room where seven of us were eating.

“They shot him first, and my terrified mother-in-law started screaming.

“As he (husband) was groaning and my mother-in-law screaming, they came into the room where we were.

“One of them tried to say something in Berom language but wasn’t so fluent.

“He spoke also in Fulfulde saying ‘Hurut mu hilleh’ after opening fire in the room but I don’t think that language was standard too.”

Meantime, the State Police Command had confirmed the incident.

According to the Spokesman of the Command, DSP Matthias Tyopev Terna, a
Deputy Commissioner of Police Department of Operations from the Command has visited the scene.

Terna added, “The police patrol of the area is being intensified in order to discourage any reprisal.”

The Command also solicited credible information to track and arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators to face justice.

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