Three persons have been shot by police at Tunga Kawo village in Kontagora Local Government Area of Niger State during an attempt to disperse a group of youths during a mob action against a police station in the village.
LEADERSHIP gathered that trouble started yesterday when an assailant snatched a motorcycle from a villager and macheted the victim in the process.
It was learnt that the victim reported the case to the vigilante group in the area, who later apprehended the culprit with the help of the police.
But shortly after the news of the arrest filtered into the village that the suspected criminal was in police custody, the youths of the village ran to the police station and demanded the police to hand him over for them to slaughter, but the police refused.
Following the refusal, the aggrieved youths tried to set the police station ablaze, forcing the police open fire in self-defence.
Police Public Relations Officer, Richard Oguche, disclosed? that four of them were now receiving treatment in General Hospital, Kontagora, and said that immediately after they recover from their injuries, investigation in to the matter would commence with a view of prosecuting the perpetrators of the act.