Goat ‘triggers off’ gun, kills man

The suspects are a man and his brother, who is a hunter, as well as a goat.

NAN gathered from witnesses that the suspects allegedly shot a man with a Dane gun. The man later died at the Panskhin general hospital on Tuesday.

It was, however, also gathered that some residents accused the hunter of the offence while others alleged that it was his goat that mistakenly pulled the trigger with its horns.

“It was in an attempt to catch the goat and get the gun off its horns that it kept running until the eventual triggering-off of the gun which caused stray bullet that hit the deceased,” a witness said.

But Sunday Okpo, the Pankshin divisional police officer, confirmed the incident and denied that a stray bullet killed the man.

Okpo told NAN investigations had already begun into the incident.

“We have arrested two persons in connection with the ugly incident, including the hunter and investigations into the remote cause of the killing has begun in earnest,” he said.

“This is a clear case of culpable homicide; I heard people claiming that it was a goat that caused the death of the young man; it sounds so funny isn’t it?”

Okpo said as long as the police were concerned, the incident was a clear case of culpable homicide, which they were investigating to get to its root.

“As soon as we are through with our investigations, we shall transfer the case to the state CID for more investigation and prosecution,” Okpo said.

The DPO said he would hold a town hall meeting with hunters in the council.