The Member of Parliament for Garu, Dr. Thomas Anaba, has stated that the Garu community is in a state of distress following Monday’s shooting incident, which resulted in the deaths of four people and injuries to several others.
Speaking in an interview on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Monday, October 20, 2025, the legislator described the community’s mood as sombre, indicating it is not one of calm or normalcy.
He noted that the residents, having lived in the community peacefully over the years without any issues, have now adopted a stance of vigilance. “As we sit now, Garu is in a very distressed state, the mood in Garu is not good,” he noted.
The lawmaker continued that “the mood is vigilance, the mood is awareness, the mood is watching everywhere in Garu, the mood is that no stranger would come there to cause any more harm to anybody there.”
According to him, there are different tribes within the community that have coexisted peacefully over the years, leading him to question what could have precipitated the shootings that resulted in the fatalities.
“Garu, we don’t have any conflict amongst ourselves. We live there – Kusaasis, Frafras, Hausa, Bimobas, Moshi, Busangas – we live there very happily without any confusion. We don’t know what is trying to cause this,” he stated.
Background
Four persons were shot dead with several others injured in a daylight attack by some gunmen on residents of Garu in the Upper East region on Monday morning, October 20, 2025.
The residents who were gripped by fear and panic about the incident which occurred around 10am, saw some of them fleeing the town.
Gunshots, according to reports, were heard in some parts of the town, particularly around the district office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
According to some eyewitnesses, four armed men on two motorbikes stormed the Garu district office of the NHIA and opened fire indiscriminately.
Two of them, the eyewitnesses say, were wearing smocks and helmets, while the other two concealed their identities with face masks.
Two people were shot dead on the spot, one inside the office of the district NHIA, who is said to be a staff of the office, and another man at the premises of the office.
“Around 10am there about, we heard gunshots. Initially, we thought it was coming from the rural bank area, but later we found out that the attackers had gone to the health insurance office.
“Two people were shot, one person was shot inside the office and another outside the office,” former Presiding Member of the Garu District Assembly and now Assembly Member for Kugri, Edward Ndebugri, told Graphic Online.
The unknown assailants shot sporadically on bystanders and persons who were fleeing the scene, including teachers and pupils, after attacking the NHIA office, where two persons; a teacher and a local chief, died.
Reports indicate the gunmen did not take anything from the NHIA office.
“There is a public school close to the health insurance office, and when the shooting started, the teachers and pupils began running helter-skelter. The gunmen chased them in the direction they fled, and when one of the teachers fell, they shot him dead,” the Assembly Member for the area recounted.
The said teacher was later identified as the headteacher of the Garu G/A Primary School.
The gunmen, on their way out from the school premises, chanced upon a man who was heading to the market and also shot him dead. He was later identified as a chief of a local community.
The gunmen reportedly seized a new motorbike from one of their victims before escaping.
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