Matilda Omonaiye/
A gunman stormed a church in Anambra today and mowed down worshipers in a hail of bullets.
The incident, which has been confirmed by the police, claimed eight lives and left 18 others injured at St. Philips Catholic Church Ozubulu, in Ekusigo Local Government Area.
The gunman allegedly escaped in a getaway vehicle parked outside the church. The reason for the act is still a mystery.
The state governor, Willie Obiano, called for calm when he visited the scene to commiserate with the parishioners.
He condemned the attack and promised to ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Garba Umar, said that preliminary investigations revealed that the attack was carried out by someone in the locality.
He said, “From our findings, it is very clear that the person who carried the attack must be an indigene of the area.
“We gathered that worshipers for 6 o’clock Sunday mass at St. Philip Ozobulu were in the service when a gunman dressed in black attire covering his face with a cap entered the church and moved straight to a particular direction and opened fire.
“The man after shooting at his targeted victims still went on a shooting spree, killing and wounding other worshipers.’’
Umar further revealed that the attack was a spillover of an ongoing war between rival drug gangs operating outside the country, whose “members are indigenes of Anambra State”.
According to him, the attackers trailed a key member of a rival gang to the church, after they got information that he would be worshiping there.
He said that the target of the attack, whose name was not given, was the one that built the church and also built other churches in the area.
He added that his father was among the eight people already confirmed dead from the attack.
Among early callers at the injured victims’ ward at Access Specialist Hospital and Maternity in Ozubulu and Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital in Nnewi, was Senator Andy Uba.
He sympathized with the victims and made undisclosed cash donation for their treatment.
