Catholic faithful of Saint Thomas Moore Catholic Church, Sobe
community in Owan West local government area of Edo state,in southern Nigeria,
were Sunday jolted as the Priest who was to conduct the morning mass, Reverend
Father Peter Ayala, was found dead in his apartment.
It was gathered that the clergyman, the parish administrator was
cleaning his dane gun inside his apartment within the church premises, when the
gun accidentally went off, killing him on the spot. He was yet to dress up for
the 8 a.m service before the tragedy.
Worshippers who had waited for the morning service to commence
were said to have run in confusion and in different directions when they heard
the sound of the gun.
Elders and mass servers of the church were said to be shocked to
their marrow when they forced the doors to the apartment of the Priest open and
found him lying flat in his pool of his own blood.
The incident was immediately
reported by the church Elders to the Bishop of the Auchi Diocese, Dr Gabriel
Duniya, who later conducted a quick investigation with security agents and
confirmed that the priest died when the rifle he was cleaning went off.
When contacted, the Edo State
Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Moses Eguavoen described the
incident as unfortunate, adding that the Command was yet to get the full
details of what transpired before the Priest’s death.
The Auchi Diocese on its website
said it is still awaiting the report of the police on the tragedy. It said the
fatal shot came from Ayala’s dane gun.
Fr. Ayala who was also the
Dean of Deanery four (4) in the diocese, was 46 years old.
He was ordained 28th of June
1997 and has served as a priest at St. Patrick, Ugbowo in Benin Archdiocese,
St. Anthony, Ewatto in Uromi Diocese, St. Mary, Iviukwe, Holy Family, Igiode,
All Saints, Ighaewo. His last posting, St. Thomas Moore, Sobe in the Diocese of
Auchi is his birthplace.
Source: PMNews
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