Police officer shoots two dead over game of cards

Police in Kampala is hunting for Brian Ssempala a police constable, who on Saturday night shot two people dead, after they were found playing cards in Makindye Kampala.

The deceased whose bodies are being kept at Mulago Hospital mortuary in Kampala, have been identified as Bosco Asiimwe and Zowedi Mukasa, all residents of Makindye.

"The unfortunate incident happened around midnight on Saturday, when one of our officer s shot two people dead, one died instantly and the other died on arrival at Nsambya Hospital," Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango told New Vision on Sunday. 

According to Onyango, Ssempala who was on night duty guarding KCCA offices in Makindye was moving around Makindye at midnight, when he found a group of youth playing matatu (cards).

Onyango further explained that when the officer tried to interrogate the youth why they were playing cards late in the night, a fight ensued between the officer and the youth, which resulted into shooting by the officer, killing the two.

"The officer is currently on the run, and we are looking for him, you can run but you cannot hide, this is a murder case and he will be charged with murder," said Onyango.

In July last year, another police officer shot a Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporter in Najjanankumbi a Kampala suburb during nominations for FDC'S presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye.

The officer was trying to disperse chanting FDC supporters from blocking the Entebbe -Kampala Road during the nomination exercise.

The same year in October, three people were reportedly gunned down by a police officer at Akokoro sub-county in Apac District in an operation against illegal fishing activities on Lake Kyoga.