The Accra Regional Police Command has arrested the key suspect in the fatal shooting of a queenmother, Pearl Naa Dodoowa Whitaker, during a naming ceremony at Gbawe Zero in Accra on June 19 this year.
The incident left another person injured.
The police said investigations established that the event, organised by one Ibrahim Nii Aryee Quarshie Solomon, was attended by traditional rulers and Asafo groups.
The Head of Public Affairs of the Accra Regional Police Command, Superintendent Juliana Obeng, briefing the press yesterday, said that at about 7 p.m. on that fateful day, some individuals, armed with locally manufactured weapons, began firing indiscriminately at the event.
One of the shooters, later identified as Gilbert Awuni, aka Starboy, 21, allegedly aimed and fired his weapon at close range, striking Pearl Naa Dodoowa Whitaker, aged 33, a queen mother of Papaase, killing her instantly, Supt Obeng said.
Another victim
Another victim, Priscilla Naa Aryeley, aged 38, a trader, was also shot in the chest and remains on admission at the University of Ghana Medical Centre, in stable condition, the Superintendent of Police said at the press briefing.
She said police investigations revealed that the suspects had consumed sobolo drinks allegedly laced with narcotic substances at the ceremony before the shooting, and that realising he had committed the crime, Starboy fled the scene on a motorbike with his friend, known as Oxygen, and sought refuge at Asokore in the Ashanti Region.
Supt Obeng said a team from the Accra Regional Police Command, acting on intelligence, moved swiftly to Asokore and arrested the suspect, an Okada rider and resident of Danchira in Accra.
Confession
He confessed during interrogation that he fired the weapon in a display under the influence of alcohol and fled afterwards. Efforts are underway to recover the firearm which he claimed to have discarded after the incident, Supt Obeng emphasised.
Meanwhile, the event organiser, Ibrahim Nii Aryee Quarshie Solomon, has admitted to instructing the use of firearms at the event upon his arrest earlier, Superintendent Obeng said.
The police have also arrested another accomplice and retrieved a locally manufactured gun, empty cartridges and gunpowder from the person, Supt Obeng said.
The Ghana Police Service strongly condemns the reckless and unlawful use of firearms at public and cultural events, which poses a grave risk to lives and public safety.
The command reminds the public that possessing and discharging firearms without lawful authority is a serious offence, and those who flout the law will face prosecution, she said.
A friend of the deceased, who gave her name only as Nadia, commended the police for the swift action leading to the arrest of the suspect.
Guests
Earlier, another friend of Pearl, Mary Hammond, had told the Daily Graphic that she was with the deceased when she was shot.
She said Pearl had served some of the guests present, after which she decided to see off the caterer.
After a long wait for a vehicle, she finally hired a vehicle for her guest and came back to sit by me near an ice chest, she said.
“She then took her phone and started fidgeting with it, only to hear a series of gunshots.
Suddenly, I realised she was sprawling on the floor,” Ms Hammond said.
Ms Hammond said that as she began to shout for help, she lifted Pearl and saw blood oozing from her head.
“I also saw that a woman in front of her was also hit by the bullet,” she said.
Ms Hammond said she neither saw the direction from where the bullets were fired nor those who fired them.
Before then, she said, there was firing of muskets by some young men during the ceremony.
Ms Hammond disclosed further that the queenmother, who was enstooled about three months ago, was due to be formally introduced to the public before the unfortunate incident.