The darkness over Kiwala village was broken by gunfire on Sunday night as a police response to a reported robbery spiraled into a fatal confrontation.
Emmanuel Bagenda, the respected officer in charge of Ntaawo Police Post in Mukono Municipality, was killed in an exchange of fire with suspected motorcycle-borne criminals.
A police constable who accompanied him was wounded, and the assailants escaped with one of the officers’ firearms.
Police spokesperson, Rusoke Kituuma told journalists at the weekly press briefing at Police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala, that the officers moved swiftly after receiving information about an ongoing robbery.
“We registered an incident of a murder of a police officer, ASP Emmanuel Bagenda,” he said. “He and another police constable received information that there was a robbery in Kiwala village, so they responded.”
What followed was a fast-moving, chaotic hunt through the night. According to Kituuma, area commanders attempted to set up snap checkpoints to corner the suspects, believed to be riding on at least two motorcycles. “When ASP Bagenda and his colleague saw a suspicious motorcycle speeding, they tried to intercept it,” he explained. “In the process, they were shot at.”
The gunmen’s bullets tore through the night, and through the officers. “The police constable got injured, but Bagenda was fatally shot, sustaining injuries that led to his demise,” Kituuma said. “In that process, they also took his firearm.”
The surviving officer was rushed to hospital for treatment, while Bagenda’s remains were transported to the mortuary. Kituuma assured the public that an intense manhunt is underway. “We are pursuing the assailants and we hope to get them and bring them to justice once apprehended,” he vowed.
Mukono residents woke up to the grim news of a fallen officer and a reminder of the dangers police face nightly. The suspects, believed to have fled on motorcycles, remain at large as security forces tighten the search.
