A trigger-happy policeman attached to RC Lotto Company at Golf Estate, GRA Enugu metropolis on Sunday evening shot five persons to death.

The incident, which left Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi terribly shocked, also saw four others hospitalised.

It was gathered the Police Inspector attached to Special Protection Unit (SPU) Base 9, Umuahia, Abia State, started shooting sporadically, leaving five persons dead and four persons with gunshot injuries.

It was not clear why the policeman was shooting but sources said he was drunk and started acting strange.

Ugwuanyi, who visited the injured victims at Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) Teaching Hospital Parklane, Enugu expressed shock over the incident.

The Governor, who was received at the hospital by Enugu Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Mohammed Ndatsu Aliyu and the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Hyacinth Onah, condoled with families of the deceased.

A statement by Commissioner for Information, Nnanyelugo Chidi Aroh, said Ugwuanyi announced his administration would pay all the medical expenses for the injured.

The Governor equally charged the hospital management to ensure the victims receive adequate medical attention.

Enugu Police Command, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, ASP Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed the police officer was “has been arrested and taken into custody pending the conclusion of investigation”.

The statement confirmed “four of the persons said to have sustained gunshot injury are receiving treatment and five others whose injuries were critical, have been confirmed dead by doctors on duty and deposited in the mortuary for autopsy”.

It added that the CP had ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police in-charge of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (State CIID) to carry out thorough investigation to unravel circumstances surrounding the shooting incident.

The CP also called on eye witnesses “to volunteer useful information to aid swift conclusion of the investigation and ensure justice prevails”.