Robbers kill cop during attack on hotel
A police corporal was shot dead by armed men who allegedly attacked and robbed occupants of a hotel at Denkyemuoso, near Kumasi, last Thursday night.
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The robbers, who were wearing masks, also shot and wounded a receptionist of the hotel. The receptionist is receiving treatment at a medical facility in the area.
The policeman, identified as Frank Essel, a driver of the SWAT Unit of the Kumasi Central Police, was said to have been shot several times in his vehicle, which he had parked in the vicinity of the Open Space Hotel at Denkyemuoso.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has mounted a search for the armed men and has offered GH¢5,000 bounty to anyone who will provide information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
Cpl Essel, who wore a white T-shirt over his dark pair of trousers, was said to have parked his car near the hotel at about 8 p.m., oblivious of the fact that armed men had attacked the occupants of the facility.
He is also said to have covered the passenger seat of his car with the shirt of his police uniform and hang his police pendant in his car, but it is not clear why he had gone to the area.
Confirmation
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in charge of the Public Affairs Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, Mr Mohammed Tanko, said about 8 p.m. last Thursday, the police received information about an armed robbery at the hotel.
He said the robbers, who were hooded, had attacked the hotel, taken the guests hostage and were robbing them of their valuables.
Mr Tanko said that the victims told the police that “the robbers ordered everybody to lie down and they held them hostage and also instructed them to direct them to the rooms of the people who were lodging there. In the process, they shot one of the receptionists in the knee and he is now at a health facility.”
He added that some of the victims said “a vehicle pulled up at the hotel and a few minutes later they heard a gunshot.”
Mr Tanko said when the police went to the scene of the robbery, they found that a male had been shot and killed and initial investigations revealed that the man was a policeman with the SWAT Unit of the Kumasi Central Police Station.
He appealed to the public to provide information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects.