Cop pumps 4 bullets into the chest of a wrong man, villagers up in arms

Mberengwa – Villagers at Village 3 Rudway in Chief Bvute’s area are fuming after a cop with the ZRP Support Unit allegedly shot and killed an innocent man by pumping four bullets into his chest.

Lodrick Matsweru (26), who was visiting was shot dead at 4am on Tuesday when he opened the door to answer to a knock at the house where he was sleeping.

A cop who was among Police details looking for an armed robber pulled the trigger without asking questions and opened four holes through the soft tissue of an innocent man.

Midlands Police spokesperson Ethel Mukwende said she was on leave when The Mirror called her for a comment. Her workmate Xolani Dube referred questions to the national Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi.

Nyathi said he was in a meeting when The Mirror called him today.

Angry and distraught relatives invited The Mirror to the village and expressed their disgust at what they described as reckless and callous behavior of armed Police officers.

They said they took the initiative to invite The Mirror to the scene because they have nothing to fear and they want the world to know how dangerous cops have become to innocent men and women.

Danidzirai Muzhanduki, mother to the deceased’s friend said Police came to the village in the wee hours of morning looking for a suspected robber.

They surrounded the Muzhanduki homestead and went and knocked at the house where Matsweru was sleeping. Matsweru several times asked for the identity of the person who was knocking but there was no answer, said Danidzirai.

He was greeted with four bullets to the chest as he opened the door to find out who was knocking.

Sources said Police were looking for either Tichaona Muzhanduki or Doubt Chiponda suspected to have robbed a crew of a fuel tanker of some money.

The cops, some of whose names are in the hands of The Mirror allegedly tried to run away after the shooting.

However, angry villagers who were gathering at the scene told them to carry the body to the Police Station and report what they had done.

They also tried to leave the body at Mberengwa District Hospital mortuary but the nurses refused to take it without a Police report, said Edias Pongo Mavedzenge.

The deceased had visited his friend Enock Muzhanduki from another village.

“He was such a nice guy. He would not kill a fly. The suspected robber that the Police was looking for is someone who had just returned from South Africa and was said to be in possession of a gun.

My friend never went to South Africa and he never held a gun in his life. He was a devout SDA member,” said Enock.

Mavedzenge said the cop who fired the bullets looked drunk. He said that there was suspicion that the said robber had $31 000 on him and the cops may have had interest on that money.

 

-Masvingo Mirror