Killer officer had been forbidden from having gun for six years, says Police

Police have said Constable Ivan Wabwire who shot dead an Indian businessman at Raja Chambers on Friday had been stopped from carrying any weapon six years ago.

“Due to the suspect's medical conditions, Police management at CPS Kampala had taken a decision about six years ago not to arm the suspect with a gun and they have been deploying him in beats that doesn't require him to be armed ,”Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango said on Saturday afternoon.

He said that because of this, Wabwire had now been deployed at the CCTV camera monitoring centre.

However, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson didn’t divulge more details about the medical condition of the officer who is currently on the run.

Onyango also explained circumstances under which Wabwire, who had been forbidden from carrying a gun for six years got it and shot dead a businessman.

“Due to limited accommodation, the suspect was sharing a house with a fellow police officer, on 12 May 23 his housemate had worked at night, and didn't return the gun to the armoury instead he went with it to their house and shortly, he got a call that his child was sick, he rushed to go and check on the child leaving the gun behind,” Onyango said.

“The suspect Wabwire took that advantage, got the gun and went and misused it by shooting Uttam.”

He said Police Constable Steven Mulambo, whose gun was used by Wabwire has since been arrested and detained at Kireka as investigations into the incident continue.

Giving an update about the ongoing investigations, Onyango said detectives have recovered 13 spent cartridges to indicate that the suspect fired 13 bullets with some of them going into the wall of the room in which he shot dead Uttam Bhandari, the manager and proprietor of TFS Financial Services located on Raja Chambers along Parliamentary Avenue.

“The detectives recovered 13 cartridges from the room and CCTV footage which showed Wabwire shooting the victim and what clearly transpired at the scene. The footage shows how the suspect came, exchanged words with the victim, how he started shooting, how people inside the room run away after the shooting started among others. This is very useful evidence for us that will be used in courts of law during trial.”

He described it as an isolated case which he said sometimes comes as a wave and go away.

“We are going to use our expertise to fight gun violence,” Onyango said.

Onyango said the suspect on Friday boarded a bus to go visit his wife in Rukungiri but noted efforts are still on to have him arrested to answer charges of murder.

“He was in a bus to Rukungiri but jumped out of it before our team could him. We want to assure you, he will be tracked and arrested.”