Nigerian Boy Mortally Wounded in Attack During Block Rosary Retreat

Agbo Isaiah Oluchukwu was an altar boy at Immaculate Heart Parish in Enugu Ezike, Nigeria, and an active member of the Block Rosary Crusade (BRC) group.

He had signed up to participate in a BRC retreat at St Joseph's Parish Umuogbo-Agu on October 14th to 16th, 2022. On the first day, the retreatants assembled to start their prayer program, and around 8pm when they were having their opening Rosary procession, two unidentified boys came to the gate, demanding to enter. Realizing by their defiant behavior and language that they were local gang members, the men guarding the gate refused to let them in.

The boys went away and returned around midnight with a dozen more and started banging on the gate, asking the guards to open the gate. As they refused, the boys broke down the gate and invaded the place with weapons (daggers, wood planks etc) trying to enter inside the church where the BRC children were praying.

Some of the guards, who risked their lives to protect the children, were  severely injured. Isaiah, who was the “captain” of the BRC group, fought back to protect his friends, exposing himself to danger, even after he was injured. Eventually the attackers fled when they saw the parish priest.

Isaiah sustained severe internal injuries and was rushed to Bishop Shanahan hospital in Enugu Ezike, and died during his transfer to the larger hospital of UNTH (University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla Enugu).

Adapted from https://www.dmartpreneur.com/