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Hearing news of a mass shooting is sadly predictable in America, however, a church in southwestern Nigeria became the site of a bloody attack on Sunday when attackers stormed inside and began “shooting sporadically,” as told by Adeyemi Olayemi, the legislator representing the Owo constituency in the Ondo State House of Assembly.
Per CNN, in the city of Owo, residents and officials are trying to figure out why this happened as doctors state at least 50 bodies had been brought into two hospitals in the town from the attack. The doctor, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press, also said there was a need for blood donations to treat the injured.
“The attackers came in motorcycles and started shooting sporadically,” he said. “They killed many people inside the church.”
The mass shooting leaves more questions than answers.
Victims are being taken to Federal Medical Center in Owo, Olayemi said.
State police could not confirm the total number of casualties at St. Francis Catholic Church, a police spokesperson told CNN, nor could they identify those behind the attack.
Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu said he was “shocked” by the attack and called it a “black Sunday in Owo.”
“I am deeply saddened by the unprovoked attack and killing of innocent people of Owo, worshiping at the St. Francis Catholic Church, today,” he said on Twitter, adding that “the vile and satanic attack is a calculated assault on the peace-loving people of Owo Kingdom who have enjoyed relative peace over the years.”
“We shall never bow to the machinations of heartless elements in our resolves to rid our state of criminals,” he continued, asking the public not to “take the laws into your hands.”
Gun violence across the globe makes for a fearful planet.
While Americans of all ages continue to fatally suffer the consequences of eased gun regulations on a daily basis, other countries around the world prove they are just as capable of mass shootings. When a population is apprehensive about entering schools, churches, or concerts for the fear of being gunned down indiscriminately, it’s not a reflection of a democracy, regardless of the continent the senseless acts occur at. From Newport News to Nigeria, the world’s hate for humanity becomes crystallized in the most brutal fashion each time unprovoked violence occurs.
“It is so sad that while the Holy Mass was going on, unknown gunmen attacked St Francis Catholic Church…leaving many feared dead and many others injured and the Church violated,” said Catholic Church spokesman in Nigeria, Reverend Augustine Ikwu.
Ikwu said the bishop and priests from the parish had survived the mass shooting attack unharmed.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attack, calling it “heinous”, and the Vatican said Pope Francis was praying for the victims who had been “painfully stricken in a moment of celebration.”
Praying for Saint Francis church in Nigeria, Africa.
SAD, SAD, SICK AND SHAMEFUL, SAD, SAD, SAD…..