Police Admits Killing Lady In Abuja

The police have pleaded with the family of Lucy
Ukpong, a sales girl that was shot dead by
policemen from the FCT Police Command, for
an amicable settlement of the matter.
It was gathered that the parents of the
deceased and other relations had met with
some police officers over the killing of the girl,
but the meeting was not conclusive on how the
matter should be settled.
Our correspondent learnt that the family were
considering settling the matter through judicial
process or payment of compensation by the
police.
This revelation came just just as the family had
concluded arrangements to collect Lucy’s
remains from Garki Hospital on Friday (today)
for burial in Akwa Ibom State on Saturday.
Lucy, a sales girl at a photography shop in Apo,
Abuja was hit in the chest by bullets allegedly
fired by policemen from the FCT Special Anti-
robbery Squad on October 12. Three others
sustained gunshot wounds during the incident.
The 20-year-old girl was inside the shop when
she was killed by policemen who had come to
enforce the order on demolition of illegal
structures by officials of development control
department. The deceased had only spent a
month on her job before the incident.
Findings however indicated that the policemen
were on an illegal duty as the Abuja
Metropolitan Management Council said they
were not authorised to enforce any demolition
exercise during the period.
The residents of the area had resisted moves to
carry out the demolition exercise, leading to a
confrontation and sporadic gunshots by the
policemen.
A family source told our correspondent on
Thursday that the Federal Capital Territory
Administration gave the family N1.8m for
funeral expenses while the FCT Police
Command provided coffin, ambulance and
what it called logistics support to the family.
The source stated that the police were begging
Lucy’s family for an amicable settlement of the
matter, though the family members were yet to
accept their entreaties.
The source said, “The police have been
pleading with the family to drop the case, but
they (family members) are yet to take a position
on the matter, they want to bury the girl first
before taking a stand on the next point of
action.
“Some family members want the police to pay
compensation for killing the girl, but the police
have not made any offer for now.”
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Doris
England, could not be reached for comments
as she did not respond to calls to her phone.