TWO ARRESTED AFTER COP SHOOTING

MBABANE – The police have confirmed the arrest of two men who were found with a gun a few hours after an officer was shot and killed yesterday morning.

Although Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati did not link the two to the officer’s murder, unverified information from sources was that those arrested were allegedly being questioned regarding the fatal shooting. Vilakati could only say: “We arrested two men in Manzini who were found in possession of a gun.”
The Times SUNDAY spoke to two sources who were in the vicinity when the men were arrested near the William Pitcher College. One of the sources disclosed that he heard gunshots and when he looked in the direction they were coming from, he saw that one man was already on the ground.

“There were quite a number of police officers and they were pointing their guns at the man who was already on the ground. Unfortunately, I could not go any closer to see what was happening. I then saw the police lifting the man into the back of one of the police cars and they drove off,” the source said. He said he managed to talk to one other person who was closer than him to the shooting and the person reportedly told him that apparently the man had been wanted by the police.

Screaming

“He said the man was screaming as he lay on the drainage next to the road, but he couldn’t see if he had been shot or not and could not take pictures with his mobile phone because he was afraid of the police officers,” stated the source. He said from the look of things, the police had received a tip-off and acted on it. “It is not the first time they came this way looking for someone and I suspect it is one of the people they arrested today. Just a few days ago they were here and apparently they were acting on a similar tip-off, because I then heard them saying ‘it’s not him, it’s not him’,” said the source. Another source, who lives closer to the scene where this happened, said she heard a number of gunshots but could not go any closer for fear of being hit by a stray bullet.

“We waited for the police to leave and then went to the drainage where one of the persons was lying, thinking that we would find blood because we suspected he had been shot, but there was none. We therefore concluded that the shots were fired in the air as a warning and then they were able to arrest the person,” said the source. She said there were four police vehicles she managed to identify and also noticed that there were other people who were at the back of the police bakkie in which the other suspect was put.

Skirmish

When a team from this publication was shown the scene where this happened, there was no sign of any skirmish or shooting  having taken place. A total of three police officers have been killed and no one has been charged amid the political tension in the country that has made State security officers to be targets of unknown gunmen. The security personnel are blamed for the deaths that occurred during violent pro-democracy protests in June/July 2021.

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