Traffic officer shot over towing wreckage of UPDF vehicle involved in accident
Sunday January 16 2022
he wreckage of the UPDF vehicle whose driver lost control and knocked a Kobil signpost at Naalya. A traffic officer was shot and injured as he attempted to tow the wreckage to police.
A traffic officer was on Sunday morning shot by suspected Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers who tried to block police from towing a military vehicle that was involved in an accident in Ntinda, Kampala.
A source told Monitor that the traffic officer, Police Constable Robert Mukebezi, was seated on the passenger side of a breakdown truck that was towing a military Toyota Prado TX that had knocked a signpost of Kobil at Naalya when they were intercepted by soldiers in a double cabin vehicle with military registration number plates at Ntinda traffic lights at around 6am.
PC Mukebezi was shot in the leg.He told police that the soldiers emerged from a double cabin and first shot in the air.He said the soldiers asked them where they were towing the military vehicle to, and they responded "to the police."One of the soldiers then discharged several bullets on the passenger side of the breakdown injuring Constable Mukebezi in the leg, sources told this publication.The soldiers allegedly dragged the bleeding officer out of the vehicle and dumped him on the ground before ordering the driver of the breakdown to drive the wreckage to Mbuya.PC Mukebezi was later picked by the police and taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital Mulago in Kampala City where he is said to be in a critical condition after losing a lot of blood.Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire confirmed the shooting of their officer by "unidentified persons dressed in military fatigue" who alighted from a military vehicle."The investigations are ongoing to establish the shooter," Assistant Superintendent of Police Owoyesigyire said.Military car knocks signpostEyewitnesses who spoke to this reporter say the accident happened at around 5am when the driver of the military vehicle lost control and knocked the signpost of Kobil at Naalya.The occupants, whom the eyewitnesses described to police that were drunk, abandoned the vehicle at the scene.Responders informed the police which assigned Police Constable Mukebezi to visit the scene and tow the vehicle to the police station.According to a source, PC Mukebezi hired a breakdown vehicle that towed the wreckage, but when they reached Ntinda traffic lights, they were blocked by double cabin with military registration number plates.The source said before they could explain where they were towing the vehicle to, they were shot at, injuring a police officer.