The police are searching for the killers, according to an official.
Gunmen, on Sunday night, killed a retired police officer and his wife in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria's south-east.
The man, identified as Sampson Owobo, and his wife, were shot dead by the hoodlums when they attempted to dispossess the couple of their bag which contained some amount of money, Punch reported.
But when the gunmen, numbering about three, failed to snatch the bag, they shot the retired officer at his forehead.
The attackers also shot the wife at her left-hand side, close to her chest.
The incident happened at about 8 p.m. near the Owerri Area Police Command Office which also houses the Owerri Urban Police Divisional Headquarters.
The couple owned a POS business in the area.
Mr Owobo, a retired assistant superintendent of police, hailed from Edo State, South-south Nigeria.
While the retired officer died on the spot, his wife was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, by some officers, but was confirmed dead by doctors at the facility.
The attack forced many business owners in the area to close shop abruptly.
"The armed robbers fled and haven't been caught. This is so bad," the paper quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, has confirmed the incident, the newspaper reported.
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Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said the police in the state had launched an operation to track down the killers.
"The commissioner of police (in the state) frowns at the killing of the couple and he has immediately ordered an investigation into their killings with the mandate to apprehend the fleeing criminals," he said.
Worsening insecurity
Like other states in Nigeria's South-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons.
The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.
Some gunmen, in February 2022, abducted and then beheaded a retired police officer, Chris Kpatuma in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.
A suspect arrested in connection with the killing, would later confess that he and his gang members killed the retired officer because they saw him as a threat to their Biafra agitation in the South-east.
Several persons, mainly security operatives and government officials, have been abducted or killed during some deadly attacks in the South-east, which have been attributed to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The group has, however, repeatedly denied their involvement in the attacks.
IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.
