The Member of Parliament for Garu, Dr. Thomas Anaba, has suspected that the shooting incident in Garu which claimed four lives and injured several others on Monday, could be a targeted killing.
He has discounted armed robbery as the possible motive behind the shootings, given that the gunmen bypassed potential targets likely to have money, such as the bank, traders, and mobile money vendors, focusing instead on the National Health Insurance Authority’s office.
Despite awaiting the report from security agencies as the definitive explanation for the shooting, he states there’s no logical basis for the assailants to have fled without taking or demanding money from the residents after the shooting if robbery was their intent.
“So, we entrust everything to the experts – the security and intelligence agencies – to ensure they unravel the true cause of this Garu shooting because we don’t believe it was armed robbery,” he stated.
According to him, if the target was armed robbery, they would have targeted the bank with funds, mobile money vendors with cash or the motor sellers with money, instead of the National Health Insurance Authority office which doesn’t handle significant cash.
He added that there is no way they would have singled out individuals and later shot a teacher, explaining that “a teacher is not in the bank, he has no money”, he stated, reemphasising that “it shouldn’t be anything about armed robbery.”
“I think it was a targeted killing. We suspect it is a targeted killing that was going to take place and it has taken place on unfortunate people, who perhaps were not the target,” he told Alfred Ocansey on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Monday, October 20, 2025.
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.
‘Garu is in a very distressed state’ – MP on mood of community after shooting incident
