Suspect shot for attempting to stab policeman during arrest
A police pickup patrol van evacuating the suspect exits the premises of Gulu SS where the suspect was shot. PHOTO/ TEDDY DOKOTHO.
What you need to know:
- Police accounts show that prior to his escape from custody, Ali had been arrested after he allegedly robbed a motorcycle from a boda-boda rider at gunpoint in Amuru District in 2021.
Police at Gulu City Central Police station Monday afternoon shot a suspected aggravated robber as he reportedly attempted to stab a police officer to escape arrest.
According to an eyewitnesses, Ali was cornered by armed police officers by the walls of Gulu SS after nearly an hour of a cat-and-mouse chase in between corridors and buildings in Gulu City centre.
“They chased him until he was stuck by the fencing and he started to charge at the officers when he picked a metallic bar and jumped on a police officer to stab him. Another nearby police then aimed and shot him,” Mr Ronald Okot, a bodaboda rider said.
By press time, the suspect only identified as Ali whom police say had been on their wanted list for months, had been rushed to Police Health Centre III after he sustained a serious injury from a gunshot in his right thigh.
Police have since August 2021 been hunting for Ali who escaped from custody upon hearing that he would be tried by the UPDF Court Martial over aggravated robbery he committed in Amuru District a month earlier.
Mr David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa River Region Police spokesperson confirmed the shooting.
“Investigations into his old cases and then assaulting a police officer today as well as trial of the suspect will resume once his condition stabilizes,” he told this publication.
According to Mr Mudong, police shot Ali to disable him.
Police accounts show that prior to his escape from custody, Ali had been arrested after he allegedly robbed a motorcycle from a boda-boda rider at gunpoint in Amuru District in 2021.
To net Ali on Monday, Mr Ongom explained that the suspect was tricked that a motorcycle he recently bought through a loan from a dealer in Gulu City but was later confiscated by police had been returned to the dealer.
“Today morning he was sighted around the dealer’s shop and once the police came to effect his arrest, he assaulted the two officers and fled. He was chased until he was netted and shot,” Mr Ongom said.
Authorities claim that the suspect has been sending threatening messages and making telephone calls to police officers at Amuru Central Police station “for confiscating his motorcycle.”
His records were digitally tracked by investigators once he started processing and buying the motorcycle which police declined to disclose the registration number.
