Bamenda shootings leave one dead; another injured

A man whose name we got as Mabo Fidelis is in the Mortuary of the Bamenda Regional Hospital after a shooting incidence at Mile four Nkwen on Tuesday evening.

According to eye witness account, uniform men raided a drinking spot at Mile four Junction firing several gun shots inside the house before taking the bar attendant and a wounded customer away. “As we got in there after the police left we only noticed that man from Mbelem with wounds on the head lying on the ground. He was dead.” The witness told this reporter.

Nothing was gathered as relates the reason behind the shooting but Mile four Nkwen practically closed down for the day as the atmosphere became too moody following the shootings.

Visiting the home of Mabo Fidelis in Mile six Nkwen Wednesday, it was sad picture to stand as many wept for a man they say was a father, friend and father. 

“Derick don’t ask me. He only received a call and went to mile four to meet a friend. We didn’t know he will come back as a corpse.” In tears a family tells this reporter. 

We gathered that Fidelis was only discovered in the mortuary  by others Mile six inhabitants who went to deposit another corpse suspected to have been shot as well.  

Before we left the Mile six Nkwen residence of the deceased, it was emerging that a family relative of Ambo Fidelis who is a Colonel in the Cameroon defense forces had made contacts to mile four where the incident occurred with a Gendarmerie research brigade and district police station around as to what might have happened but no one admitted knowing of any shooting. It has thus generated controversy as to why the shooting and who might have been responsible for the action. 

The late Mabo Fidelis who was confirmed to be a driver, an elder of the PCC worshiping in the Mambuh congregation in Mile five Nkwen is also a father in his early 40s. 

The person with whom Fidelis sat in the drinking spot whose name we could not get at press time suffered injuries but is currently responding to treat in a hospital in Bamenda.

The bar attendant whose name we only got as Tangie Thomas who was taking away after the shooting, reports say has returned to his family. 

At Press time the drinking spot was still closed after it was locked by the killers of Fidelis and the key taken away. 

Though gun shots have not been a common occurrence in the city, Raids have become a regular routine in Bamenda with targets on areas noted for hosting nocturnal activities like prostitution and games of chance or smoking of marijuana and taking of hard drugs.

Yesterday many are said to have been arrested during such raids in the early hours of the evening around the Ghana Street, Mobile Nkwen, Ntamulung, Mile two Nkwen and Ndamukong areas.