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Tragedy struck over the weekend at the coastal community, Otuan, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, when a 10-year-old boy accidentally killed his cousin with his grandfather’s gun.

Investigations revealed that the children had gone out to the bush to pick bush mangoes, popularly known as Ogbono, and came back to the house.

One of the children, a sister to the boy who shot the gun, had requested the boys to go inside the room and get a cutlass to cut the bush mango. Inside the room, which belonged to their grandfather who is a retired soldier, the boys saw a gun where it was hidden and started fiddling with it, pointing it at the deceased.

The deceased, who was 12-year-old, was heard shouting, “put the gun away” when a shot exploded and hit him. He was rushed to a patent medicine store to get first aid treatment while arrangements were underway to get a boat to take him to the hospital, but it was too late.

A source in the community said it was an unfortunate incident which has thrown the Otuan community into mourning.

“The boy who shot the gun and the deceased are cousins. The boy’s grandfather is a retired soldier who had a gun in the house.

“They went to get a cutlass and saw a gun, which he took and pointed it at his cousin playing.

“The bullet went off and hit his cousin who is now dead. It is a tragedy. The whole family is in mourning,” he said.
Findings indicated that the police had not been briefed about the incident at the time of filing this report following discussions within the family to treat it as a family matter.