A police officer was shot dead by armed robbers in Bulawayo’s New Luveve suburb on Monday night.
The policeman, Constable Gibson Tafara Madzimure, 35 was shot in the head at the home of an alleged illegal foreign currency dealer, Last Mukomawashe.
Constable Madzimure was rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mukomawashe had earlier on sought police help and reported that he was being followed by suspicious people.
Acting on the information, a team of detectives from CID Homicide and a Police Special Tactics Team from ZRP Support Unit at Fairbridge, were placed on high alert to monitor Mukomawashe, while some officers were stationed at his home in New Luveve.
At about 7PM, Mukomawashe arrived home where some police officers were already stationed.
When Constable Madzimure saw Mukomawashe open the gate, he moved forward from his position without observing the three-armed robbers who were now just close behind Mukomawashe. He was shot in the head by one of the suspects who fled from the scene on foot.
On Tuesday morning, police units, CID and Homicide had cordoned off the scene, just behind Matshayiskhova Primary School and were conducting investigations.
Some of them were armed with guns, while others were using metal detectors, perhaps trying to find bullets in the sand.
Residents in the suburb were milling around some metres away from the scene and were visibly shaken.
Some said they are concerned with the rise of armed robberies involving guns.
“We didn’t think it was gunshots when we heard the sound. We ran out, thinking our powerlines or a transformer were bursting. Only to realise that it was a shootout. This is worrying that we hear such things happening every day and then this has happened at our doorstep,” said a resident who declined to be named.
Last Saturday, police shot and killed three men trying to rob a mining equipment dealer in Bulawayo’s Fourwinds suburb. Three other men were taken into custody.
The six-armed robbers are part of the gang that recently raided Choppies Supermarket in Parklands and Access Finance in the city, getting away with nearly US$300 000 and R1 million.
Police said the six are linked to other armed robberies in the city, and had also just come in from South Africa with the intention of committing robberies.
Between March and June this year, Bulawayo police reported 32 armed robberies in the city, including the fatal shooting of a till operator at a liquor store in Ascot.
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