Three police arrested for allegedly shooting woman to death.

Three police officers in Lira District have been arrested for allegedly shooting to death a 48-year-old woman while on duty.

The police officers whose names are being withheld for fear of jeopardising the investigations had rushed to rescue a one James Ango, a resident of Atongo-Kongo village, Itek sub-county in Lira district who was being beaten by a mob for allegedly stealing money.

Martin Otiti Bua, the LCII councilor of Ajia parish, Itek sub-county in Lira where the incident happened on Sunday said as the police officers were trying to rescue the suspect; a group of people turned violent and started pelting them with stones in an attempt to grab the suspect from them.

The North Kyoga Regional police spokesperson, Jimmy Patrick Okema, confirmed the matter adding that as the Uganda police force, they shall ensure that the matter is taken seriously so that justice prevails.

According to Okema, if the members of the public had apprehended the suspect and handed him over to the Police, there wouldn’t have been a scuffle that could have led to the death of the woman

The Uganda Police Crime Report 2021 shows that there was a slight increase in the volume of crimes reported to the police, from 195,931 cases reported in 2020 to 196,081 cases reported in 2021

A total of 3.912 cases of homicide were reported to Police by the end of 2021 compared to 4.460 cases in 2020.

The report indicated that the motive behind such killings includes: land wrangles, residents taking matters into their hands, misunderstandings, crimes of passion, and business rivalry among others.

By Arao Denis