The last legs of the UEFA Champions League matches turned bloody on Tuesday night in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, when hoodlums stormed a popular viewing centre, Kaneworld Resort, and shot dead a final year student of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO).
It was gathered the criminals, about three of them, stormed the viewing centre, Kaneworld Resort at 17, Idak Okpo lane, few minutes to the end of the Champions League matches involving some big European clubs, including Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and ordered fans to lie down at gun point.
“When they [the criminals] ordered everyone to lie face down, the deceased struggled with his Infinix phone and was shot at close range,” Effiong Akpan, a Manchester United fan explained.
According to him, the deceased, Dominic Ubiat, a final year Microbiology student from Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area, had to run with his phone after being shot at close range in the groin region.
“He ran with patches of blood from the viewing centre and was chased by the hoodlums to his house located at about 500 metres and died before help could reach him,” another fan added.
It was learnt some area youths arrived a little too late to take him to the hospital where medics confirmed he died from excess loss of blood.
His parents, Mr and Mrs Ubiat, who inspected the scene on Wednesday, lamented that all the years of their son at the university was in vain and vowed to go the extra mile to avenge the death of their son.
“Look at the blood of my son,” Mr. Ubiat lamented, vowing that “the blood of my son shall haunt those behind this dastardly act of cowardice.”
The deceased’s mother, accompanied by other family members, class and school mates, wondered why her son could be left to die after being shot.
“From every indication here, help did not come early enough, otherwise my son would have survived if he had been rushed to the hospital at the right time,” she lamented.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Elkana Bala, described the incident as “a pure robbery attack”.
He urged parents to be in the vanguard of instilling the essential values in their children and wards, noting that “a situation whereby a student is seen at wrong places in the wee hours of the night left much to be desired”.
“In this kind of situation, there is little the police could do because anybody must work towards helping himself first,” he said.
He advised the public to always shun danger-prone areas in the late hours of the day, adding: “As I am now, I don’t go to clubs. I watch football in the confines of my house.”
Although no arrest has yet been made, the PPRO said “we are still trailing them.”
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