Police officer kills colleague, turns gun to himself

Mwanza. A police officer here has shot and killed his colleague before he turned the gun and shot himself dead.

Mwanza Regional Police Commander Justus Kamugisha confirmed the incident, naming the victim as Police Constable Petro Matiko who was shot from behind by Police Constable Daudi Masunga.

PC Masunga later committed suicide reportedly using the same gun.

The tragedy happened around 8pm at Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) - Mwanza Branch along Pamba Road where the two were on duty guarding the public financial institution.

PC Matiko was not on duty yesterday, but had visited the bank to draw some money and found the bank’s system network not working.

“In five minutes, PC Matiko came out and explained to fellow officers who were on guard, including Police Constable Lemedius Faustine, concerning the network breakdown,” said the RPC.

As PC Matiko narrated the network problem to the two police officers on guard, PC Masunga immediately started loading his gun with bullets. But he said, PC Faustine, who was on guard together with PC Masunga, warned his colleague that it was dangerous to load his gun in public.

According to the police boss, PC Masunga told PC Faustine to leave him alone. He added that, PC Matiko decided to walk out from where the police guards were, but after making a few steps he was shot by PC Masunga from behind.

“PC Petro Matiko was shot from behind in his left upper shoulder -- a bullet which penetrated through his back chest, adding that he died at Bugando Referral Hospital while undergoing treatment,” he said.

After killing his fellow officer, PC Masunga went straight to their resting room and killed himself.

A public relations officer with the bank, Ms Mariam Halelwa, said they heard a gun shot and when they looked out of the windows, they saw a policeman running down stairs.

She added that few minutes later, they heard another gunshot.

Police have launched an investigation into the shooting.