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Bitsafe scam5/1/2023 ![]() I can’t speak to that, because when I got out, I returned to help my friend with an injured leg and my mum was asking why I went out she was very upset she almost smacked me. Someone said military vehicles later came to pick up bodies. However, I later heard someone was injured because a dynamite was used on him. The shots were very, very, very loud, but they were not bomb explosions I didn’t hear any. I understand people saying there was an explosion: there were two particular shots that were so loud and maybe they used pump action or something. There was no sign of any explosion inside or outside the church. There was no fire, no smoke, nothing in the church. I was in the middle and the shots were getting closer and closer and closer to me. They were trying to converge their bullets on the middle of the church. They could be more, but I think they were four because it was almost as if they were standing and shooting from the four corners of the church. My dad told me he counted four assailants. I took my mum, looked for my dad, came back to the church because there was one of our members who was wounded, he said he could not walk, I started crying for people to help, and got him out. They did not say a word, they kept shooting, and did not say a word. The shooting was just sporadic, they kept going and going and going and going. He said he saw them when they were closing the door, that they were in military camouflage, and he saw one of them with an AK-47, and he said they were shooting through the windows and did not enter the church. ![]() He told me he hid inside the confession box and just took some chairs to cover himself. My dad was by the church door, he saw them when they came in. They shot all through the 10 minutes without uttering a single word. I saw people dead on the altar, but the priest was alive, they did not kidnap anybody they didn’t say a word. Old women in their CW (Catholic Women) uniform, dead. Two siblings their brains were right on the floor, right in my face. Immediately I got up, I saw right by my side, in my front, dead bodies. Then people were trying to peep up, and we saw that church members were moving around, so it seemed like everywhere was a little bit safe. We were all just waiting and waiting until nobody could hear anything. Then the shooting stopped, and that was it. They just kept shooting and shooting and shooting. ![]() I just told my mum, ‘lie down flat’! The shooting went on for five to 10 minutes. Then the third shot, and the shooting was just sporadic. I was trying to get her away from the windows and towards the middle of the church, towards some chairs, some pews as we call them. I went to look for my mum, held her by the hand. Things were moving very fast.Īfter the second gunshot, we knew this thing was serious, so people were running forward, running towards the front. The time between the first and the second gunshot was like 30 seconds. As they were running forward, the next gunshot came, ‘boom’. And then, the people who sat at the back of the church started running forward. I think the wardens saw the guns, and then like a reflex, they shouted, ‘close the door fast fast’. They were inside the church and looking out to scan the church compound, then they were trying to close the doors, and people were wondering what was happening. So, the church wardens were on the lookout. People were thinking it was a silencer that got burst or some kids outside were just playing pranks, because that wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard something like that, although not something as loud as that, obviously. A lot of people looked back it took us by surprise. That sounded like it came from outside the church. It was when the choir started singing that we heard the first gunshot. All that was left was for him to come down from the altar and then proceed out of the church. The priest who was presiding over the mass had already said his final blessings the choir had started singing. But, today, being Pentecost Sunday, there were a lot of programmes in the church that’s why the service extend till about 11:30am-12pm. On an ordinary Sunday, our mass doesn’t last beyond 2 hours and 30 minutes, and that’s on days when they have thanksgiving Sunday. We were right there: me, my mum and my dad. So, you were saying you were right inside the church when it happened? The congregant, who asked not to be named for security reasons, also told FIJ about the appearance of the assailants, why so many children were killed, and whether or not there was a “bomb explosion” as initially reported. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, on Sunday has spoken about the horror of coming face-to-face with death, as well as the relief of watching his father escape death by the skin of his teeth after hiding inside the church’s confession box.
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