Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman /CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, has condemned the killing of a 27-year-old Nigerian man named George Nkencho in Ireland.
The Nigerian-Irish man who was said to be suffering from ‘serious mental illness‘ was on Wednesday, December 30, shot dead by an Irish Police called gardaí in Clonee, Co Dublin.
According to a report by Irish Times, the victim threatened a person in a shop in Hartstown with a knife.
About 15 gardaí then responded to reports of a man with a knife at the local shopping centre. Upon arriving at the scene, gunshots were fired from an official Garda firearm after an attempt to resolve the situation.
George was shot at least three times at the Manorfield Drive in Clonee, West Dublin. He was pronounced dead after being transferred to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.
In a statement, the Irish authorities confirming the shooting and said Nkencho was involved in two separate incidents in Hartstown Shopping Centre.
The gardaí said he had threatened members of the public and an unarmed gardaí with a knife.
The statement reads;
Uniform, unarmed Gardaí responded to the scene and observed a male in possession of a knife. The male continued to threaten members of the public and unarmed Gardaí with the knife.
Gardai followed the male on foot and in vehicles from the Hartstown Shopping Centre towards Manorsfields Drive, Dublin 15. During this period Gardaí were engaging with the male and encouraging him to drop the weapon.
Members of the Armed Support Unit arrived at a scene in Manorfields Drive, Dublin 15.
The Armed Support Unit were also threatened with a knife and implemented a graduated response where the use of less-lethal force options (taser and OC spray) was initially administered in an effort to resolve the incident. The less-lethal use of force options were unsuccessful.
At approximately 12.35pm a member of the Armed Support Unit discharged a number of shots from his official firearm shooting the male.
The male was treated at the scene by Garda Armed Support Unit paramedics and Dublin Fire Brigade paramedics and transferred to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.
Reacting to this in a statement by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, NIDCOM Head of Media, on Thursday, Dabiri-Erewa described the death of the young Nigerian by a Police officer as callous and wicked.
Dabiri-Erewa called for a full, thorough and fair investigation into the matter.
She appealed to enraged Nigerian community in Ireland to exercise patience and await the outcome of investigation into the unfortunate incident.
The NIDCOM boss condoled with the family of Nkencho and the Nigerian community in Ireland over the killing of George and prayed God to give the family and friends the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.
Already, the African Advocacy Network Ireland (AANI) expressed shock to learn about the callous shooting dead of George on Wednesday.
The group said the circumstances surrounding the killing of a mentally challenged youngman has enraged the African community and demanded a full independent public inquiry.
On his part, Ireland Justice Minister Helen McEntee described the fatal shooting as “extremely traumatic”, saying; “Yesterday’s events were extremely traumatic for everybody involved”.
A video of the incident has been circulated widely online, but the family of the victim have appealed for people to not share footage of the incident online.
In a statement, George’s sister, Gloria said her brother was “suffering from serious mental illness and those who knew him know the type of person he was, he was not a thug nor a criminal”.
She expressed;
Thank you all for your condolences and prayers. My siblings and I have witnessed the most traumatic experience of our lives as our brother was shot in front of us.
My family greatly appreciate everything everyone is doing. I kindly ask to refrain from sharing the video of the shooting. It is not something I wish to be reminded of.
#GeorgeNkencho pic.twitter.com/8haeaJiwo6
— Omo (@glopopz) December 31, 2020
Earlier today, a protest took place outside a garda station in Dublin with protesters calling for the arrest of the officer who shot George and says they want to receive daily updates on the investigation into the incident.
The protesters held signs saying ‘Black Lives Matter‘ and ‘Justice For George Nkencho’.
See some photos of protesters below;
