A police officer was mistakenly shot and killed by another officer while in pursuit of suspected car jacker in Chivhu on Saturday.
The police officer, only identified as Constable Taambutseni, was shot on the pelvis and was rushed to Chivhu General Hospital where he succumbed to the gun shot wounds.
Constable Taambutseni was reportedly shot by one Sergeant Zisengwe who was firing warning shots from an AK Rifle as he tried to grab and arrest the suspect identified as Mussa Denge (43) at his home in Chivhu.
A police source who spoke to CITE on condition of anonymity said a team from the CID Vehicle Theft Squad Bulawayo went to CID Chivhu to follow up on a case of the car jacker who had allegedly stolen a fleet of vehicles from Bulawayo and Kadoma.
“VTS Bulawayo went to Chivhu in pursuit of a wanted person. They requested for back up and were given 5 details. They successfully tracked down the accused person and upon trying to arrest him one of the team members who was armed with an AK rifle unnecessarily fired 3 rounds into the air, forgot to clear his weapon which resulted in him accidentally shooting one of the police officers,” said the source.
“The team saw Denge driving a Toyota Wish Silver in colour registration AAF 7378 from Chivhu Town going to a suburb. They followed him and he drove to stand number 10 Chivhu location, Chivhu.”
The source said Sgt Zisengwe was armed with an AK Rifle Serial number ZRP 1306 which he used to fire three warning shots when they arrested Dengu.
“The team disembarked from their vehicle in pursuit of the accused person and Sgt Zisengwe was firing warning shots at the same time. Cst Taambutseni was first to get to Dengu and when he was about to grab him, he was shot on the pelvis,” the source said.
The source said two spent cartridges were recovered from the scene.
