A man identified as Kenneth Emekwasianya; his wife, Grace; their daughter, Chioma, and Emeka Ntukokwu, a secondary school teacher have been killed by gunmen in a Seven-Day Adventist Church in Azia, Anambra State.
An eyewitness disclosed that a masked gunman invaded the church on Wednesday during a midweek service and shot the victims and thereafter took the keys of a Mercedes C Class car belonging to Kenneth.
The accomplices of the masked man who were lurking around entered the Mercedes Benz and they sped off with it.
It was gathered that the car which later developed a gear problem was abandoned in Okija, a neighbouring town.
Unconfirmed reports claim that the killers left a note stating that Kenneth was killed because he collected the money the Niger Delta Power Holding Company paid to the community as compensation for the destruction of an economic tree and other structures while the company implemented the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, in Azia.
Part of the note read: “Keep on running but you cannot hide all the time. You took our money.”
The spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, Mohammed Haruna while confirming the incident, said: “Investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident and effort is being intensified in order to arrest perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring them to justice.”