An armed robbery operation has left one person dead and two others with gunshot wounds at Walewale in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.

The deceased, who has been identified only as Razak and a driver of the Ghana Cocoa Board, was caught up in a sporadic shooting by the robbers while returning to his residence from a mobile money vending shop attacked by the robbers.

Razak, who was said to have gone to the shop to transfer money, was said to be on vacation in the town. The incident happened at Walewale Market Square at about 7:20pm Monday when the robbers attacked mobile money vendor, Sec Com Ventures.

Witnesses say Razak who had stepped out of the shop, was first shot at before entering the vending shop. The injured, Musah Majeed was shot in the chest while his sister, Musah Awabu was shot in the leg. They were in another shop near the mobile money vending shop which was attacked, eyewitnesses told 3News.

Owner of the vending shop, one Osman, however managed to escape unhurt before the robbers entered the shop. It is not clear whether the armed robbers made away with anything.

Shot but bullets didn’t penetrate

A man who was at the shop during the attack, told 3News he was shot five times by the robbers but escaped unhurt.

The man, Wurugu Naa Dahamani Yidana Yakubu, who is a sub chief from Yagba claimed he survived the gunshots because he had fortified himself.

He claimed he was at the vending shop to deposit Ghc200 from his pension money into his account when the robbers entered the shop and fired five times at him. “My work as a security person to STC and other companies made me seek other protective powers and that’s how come though they shot at me five times, I survived ” he claimed as he displaced empty bullet shells to 3News.

Fear

Monday’s incident brings to two, the number of robbery attacks in the business district within nine months, and caused anxiety among residents over their safety and security.

Residents are agitating the police in the area have not been able to bring the situation under control. One eyewitness who rushed to the Walewale Police station to report the incident told 3News that there was only one officer on duty at the charge office.

The witness said it took time before the police arrived at the scene. Efforts are being made to get the Police in the area to respond to the incident and the concerns of the residents.