Gunmen have killed the Chief Security Officer of Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Richard Timothy, and his 23-year-old son, Silas, at their residence in Igwuruta-Ali, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The incident occurred on January 31, 2025, around 9pm when the family returned home.
Timothy’s widow, Grace, who recounted the harrowing experience to journalists in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said the attackers, numbering about five and dressed in black, ambushed them as they drove into their compound.
She disclosed that the gunmen shot her husband repeatedly in the head before turning their weapons on Silas, who had recently graduated from the University of Port Harcourt and was awaiting his National Youth Service Corps deployment.
“Around 9pm on January 31, we went to get some things. As we returned and were about to enter the house, we called my son to open the gate. As he did, armed men dressed in black entered with us in their car. They started shooting. They shot my husband in the head multiple times. They also shot my son,” Grace recounted tearfully.
Grace said she managed to escape the attack but later returned to find her son’s lifeless body on the floor.
“I was able to escape, but when I got back into the house, I saw my son’s body on the floor. The police came, and I took his corpse to the morgue,” she said.
She further revealed that the assailants dragged her into a nearby bush, demanding money but eventually released her.
“They said they didn’t come for me but my husband. They asked for money, but I told them I had none. One of them was accidentally shot during the scuffle, and while trying to escape with the injured member, they left me and asked me to go back,” Grace narrated.
She suggested that the attack might be connected to the threats her husband had been receiving from those opposed to his efforts to prevent the looting of property at the stadium.
“He had been receiving threats. If the police check records at the Igwuruta Police Station, they will find reports he made about these threats. He even arrested two people around June or July last year for theft—one from the stadium and another from our neighborhood. I don’t want my husband to die in vain. He fought for the truth,” she said.
Confirming the incident, the state Police Command Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, said a full investigation is underway to track down the killers.
In a statement titled ‘Rivers Police Launch Probe Into Murder of Stadium CSO, Son’, Iringe-Koko said the police were alerted by the deceased’s daughter, Omolara, prompting officers to visit the crime scene.
“The Rivers State Police Command is aware of a tragic incident that occurred on January 31, 2025, at about 11:40pm, where Richard Timothy, 59, Chief Security Officer of Adokiye Amiesimaka International Stadium, Omagwa, Port Harcourt, and his first son were brutally murdered by unknown gunmen.
“The Igwuruta Division received a report from Timothy’s daughter, stating that four armed men ambushed her father and brother, shooting them in the head. The victims were rushed to the hospital but were confirmed dead by the doctor on duty.
“Three expended AK-47 cartridges were recovered from the scene. The Commissioner of Police has directed the deployment of all necessary intelligence to apprehend the fleeing suspects and bring them to justice,” the statement read.
Iringe-Koko assured that the police would intensify efforts to combat crime in the state and ensure that justice is served for the bereaved family.
