A young man and member of the Edo State vigilance group simply identified as Endurance, better known as “DMX ” was on Saturday night shot and killed at Ugbowo area by unknown gunmen suspected to be members of a rival cult group in Benin City.
Reports have it that the assailants trailed their victim from his house to a Lotto Betting Shop, where he was shot trice at close range, while other stakers at the Lotto Betting Shop scampered for safety.
The incident which allegedly occurred at about 6 pm on Saturday on Ologbosere Street, off Benin Technical College road in Ugbowo Quarters, Egor Local Government Area threw residents of the area into panic and apprehension.
It was gathered that the Vigilance group in the area, immediately after the incident, stormed the crime scene to rescue their colleague but was found dead in the pool of his own blood.
Angered by the killing, according to the report, the vigilance group took to the street where the stop is located and embarked on search duty for over an hour for the killers, but to no avail.
The assailants, according to an eyewitness accounts, came in two vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz 4matic Saloon car and Toyota Camry Spider.
It was further gathered that the victim was shot three times in his chest before the unknown gunmen zoomed off through the Medical Stores/ Okhoro road in Benin City.
The remains of the vigilance group member were later evacuated by men of the Ugbowo police division.
It will be recalled that the renewed cult violence in Benin city in the past one week has claimed two lives so far in the area following the killing of Augustine Izu, a final year Political Science student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), who was killed by unknown gunmen hours after writing his final examination.
Izu was said to have been trailed to his off-campus hostel on Omage Street, off Federal Government Girls College Road (FGGC), Ugbowo, Benin, by his assailants who allegedly shot him dead in his room.
