17 March 2017•Update: 17 March 2017
By Halima Athumani
KAMPALA, Uganda
A high-ranking Ugandan police officer was gunned down Friday morning near his home, security forces have confirmed.
Andrew Felix Kaweesi was assistant inspector general of police and had been a spokesman for the force.
He was shot dead just 100 meters from his home in Kulambiro, a suburb of the capital Kampala.
“We are still piecing together evidence and speaking to eyewitnesses who were at the scene of crime,” Gen. Kale Kayihura, the police inspector general, told journalists Friday afternoon.
Witnesses reportedly told police that the killing took place when Kaweesi, his driver, and his bodyguard were driving near his home.
Two people riding a motorcycle reportedly shot the vehicle from behind, forcing the driver to stop, and then showered it bullets, killing all three passengers.
Responding to repeated murders -- including State Prosecutor Joan Kagezi in 2015 and People’s Defense Force Maj. Kiggundu Mohammed last year -- President Yoweri Museveni has ordered the installation of cameras in all major towns and along the highways.
He urged people and security personnel alike “to be vigilant and on the lookout for these thugs who have made it a habit to use motorcycles to kill people.”
