WAKISO, UGANDA: One person has died following the enforcement of the nighttime curfew in Wakiso district on Sunday night. The deceased has been identified as John Kulumba.
According to residents, Wakiso District Police commander, Medard Asiimwe together with three other officers raided a pub in Nsangi and questioned the revellers why they were drinking past the night curfew time, which resulted in altercations.
Police attempted to arrest the revellers, who put up resistance. This prompted Medard Asiimwe to release bullets to disperse the group that attempted to fight them. John Lubwama, an eyewitness told Uganda Radio Network that when the DPC informed the revellers that they were under arrest, some of them started running away while others resisted the arrest.
“It was around 9:00 am, when the police raided that place. Shortly after we heard bullets, which hit Kulumba. We heard the DPC saying I have killed someone. Help me we rush him to hospital,” Lubwama said. He explains that the three other policemen escaped shortly after the shooting.
“The DPC was helped by other officers who came after about 30 minutes. They rushed the victim to Mulago hospital where he was pronounced dead,” he said. “We have followed up this morning, but upon reaching Mulago, the doctors told us, the person we’re looking for died before reaching the hospital, all we want is justice for our colleague, the DPC should be arrested now,” Lubwama added.
Musa Joseph, one of the revellers, says that there were about 10 when police raided the bar. He said they did not resist the arrest and begged for forgiveness from the officers in vain, which triggered panic among his colleagues.
“Two people tried to run away but what is annoying is that the person who was even shot was not even among those who escaped. The DPC released bullets without caring what was inside the bar only to find our colleague bleeding and dead,” Joseph said.
Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire has confirmed the shooting incident. “The DPC asked those people at first to leave but they declined instead started fighting our officers. The officer released bullets unfortunately one was shot in the process. Investigations into this shooting are still ongoing,” he said.
The government has maintained the night-time curfew, which starts from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am each day as part of the COVID-19 containment measure. The measure comes with heavy deployment of Police, Local Defence Unit Personnel and UPDF soldiers.
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