Kampala, (UG)- Ntinda-Kigoowa, an urban Kampala suburb in Nakawa Division was Thursday last week soaked in grief and shock after yet-to-be-known assailants shot and killed two people; a mobile money operator and a boda boda rider before stealing millions.
The incident, according to preliminary police investigations occurred at around 8 pm along Central Road when the mastermind of the assailant rained bullets on Albert Tugume Cook, the mobile money operator and sister to Kampala Deputy Lord Mayor Doreen Nyanjura.
The boda boda rider, Barnabas Sabiiti, who intervened to save Tugume was also shot at and later succumbed to injuries at Mulago Hospital the next morning.
Tugume had reportedly run into a corridor housing a private residence after Sabiiti’s intervention but he hit a dead end, and the killer ultimately found and killed him after neutralizing the boda rider.
In the aftermath of the shooting, police say the assailants managed to evade capture, leaving investigators struggling with limited evidence due to blind spots in nearby CCTV coverage.
At the crime scene, a vehicle with registration number UBH 045H was found abandoned, which witnesses claim was used by the attackers when coming to the scene contrary to police accounts that the killers used a motorcycle in their cold murder mission.
The vehicle, police say, was retrieved with a scratch on its body, which is believed to have come from one of the bullets shot during the killing, though the exact circumstances surrounding the mark remain unclear.
As scene of crime detectives attempted to trace the possible movement of suspects from the time of their arrival, planning and eventual execution of the mission, the efforts, police say have been hampered by inadequate CCTV surveillance.
The only functional public camera in the area is stationed at a junction connecting Najjera Road, Ntinda Road, and Kyambogo Road, approximately two hundred meters away from the crime scene and its coverage is limited to the main road because of the obstruction around the road which leaves the exact location of the attack out of frame.
Opposite the crime scene, forensic experts scanned the new MSA building for additional cameras but found none apart from two cameras mounted on private shops. Unfortunately, these were positioned to monitor shop front activities and did not capture the attack.
Another potential lead is a camera placed in the same line as the victim’s mobile money shop. However, the shop owner revealed that the camera was malfunctioning at the time of the incident.
How assailants escaped after attack
Further investigations indicate that the attackers may have escaped ahead along the 1km Central Road. From the scene (just few meters into Central Road from Ntinda-Najjera Road), there are two possible escape routes; one leading back to the main road toward Najjera or Ntinda, and another continuing along Central Road, which connects to several branch roads and the Northern Bypass.
Speaking of the incident on Monday, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said that investigators are analyzing bullet cartridges recovered from the scene and reviewing CCTV footage from nearby roads to identify the culprits.
“CCTV cameras along routes leading to the crime scene will be crucial in piecing together the suspects’ movements,” Onyango noted, adding that eyewitness accounts are also being examined, providing additional leads for investigators.
The KMP spox emphasized that criminal investigations take time, and the public should remain patient as police work to apprehend the attackers.
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