A police inspector attached to the Owerri Area Command Police Headquarters, identified as Umoh, has shot and killed himself.

The incident occurred on Wednesday in Owerri, the state capital.

A source at the Area Command headquarters told The Nation the officer shot himself after locking himself up in one of the rooms in the quarters.

The development, our correspondent learnt, caused panic in the area.

According to the source, the inspector was at the area command on special duty.

The source said though the mobile officer complained of being sick, nobody envisaged he would take his life.

The source said: “Mobile officers came back and one of them went to one of the rooms and locked it. The next minute, we heard a gunshot.

“When we approached the quarters, it was discovered that the door was locked. It was forced open, and the mobile policeman was found dead in the pool of his blood. He shot himself on his stomach.”

When contacted, a spokesperson for the police command, Orlando Ikeokwu, confirmed the incident.

However, he said the state Commissioner of Police, Nasiru Muhammed, had ordered an investigation into the incident.