A mobile police Inspector, simply identified as Umoh, on Wednesday shot himself dead after he returned from an official assignment in Owerri, Imo State.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Inspector, until his death, was serving at the Area Command Headquarters in Owerri.
The tragedy, according to an eyewitness account, occurred when the officer went into a private room and shot himself in the stomach.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said that the cop locked himself up in the room before the shooting.
The development had caused panic in the area.
The source said that although the mobile officer complained of being sick, nobody envisaged he was going to commit suicide.
“Mobile officers came back and one of them went to one of the rooms and locked it; the next minute, we heard a gunshot.
“When we approached the quarters, it was discovered that the door was locked.
“We forced it open and the mobile policeman was found dead in a pool of his own blood,’’ the source said.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Police Command, SP Orlando Ikeokwu, confirmed the incident.
Ikeokwu said that the state Commissioner of Police, Nasiru Muhammed, had ordered an investigation into the incident.