The Lagos State Police Command has verified the demise of a one-year-old infant in an assault at Egan Oriomi, located in the Otto Awori Local Council Development Area of Ojo, Lagos State.

Benjamin Hundeyin, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, said on Sunday that several community residents caught up in the attack also suffered injuries of varying severity.

While speaking with our correspondent in an interview, Hundeyin said, “There was an attack on the community on Saturday morning. They burnthouses and there was a baby found in the burnt houses.

“When the police got there, they saw houses that were burnt and shops looted. Some members of the community also sustained gunshot wounds.”

Reports indicate that on Friday night, a group of hoodlums entered the community and began firing shots indiscriminately. A police insider, who wished to remain anonymous due to lack of authorization to comment on the issue, informed our correspondent that the gunfire caused residents to flee for safety.

The source said, “Some hoodlums who were bearing different kinds of weapons invaded the community on Friday night. They started shooting and breaking into people’s homes.

“They also started to inflict injuries on anyone they sighted. The attack went on throughout midnight and by the time they were done, about 10 people were already shot.

“The hoodlums also set some houses in the community on fire and that was what led to the burning of an infant. The mother of the baby was indoors with her two kids when they torched the house she was in.

“The shock made her escape with only her first child while the baby was left behind. When we arrived in the morning, we saw the remains of the baby while the father also wept bitterly while carrying it.”