STRAY BULLET INJURES CHILD IN HOIMA CITY

By Innocent Atuganyira

HOIMA:

A 2-year-old child is nursing wounds sustained from the stray bullet that hit him near the right ear.
The victim, identified as Altakabir Kyakuhaire, is admitted at Edpa Medical Centre in Hoima.
The Albertine Region Police Spokesperson Julius Allan Hakiza told our reporter on Wednesday afternoon that the child was hit by the stray bullet fired by a police flying squad Unit officer attached to Albertine regional police.
Hakiza said that incident happened on Tuesday in Kiryatete in Hoima East division, Hoima City along Hoima-Fort Portal road when police flying squad units were pursuing a suspected car thief who was driving a vehicle registration number UBB 533X.
The regional police mouthpiece said the live bullet re-crotched after it hit a hard surface adding that the child is out of danger.
Following the rampant theft of vehicles in the region, Hakiza said that they got intelligence information concerning the suspected motor vehicle thief in Hoima City.
He said the suspected thief was rounded up by a police flying squad and in the process of pursuing him, he knocked the police vehicle thus prompting police to fire live bullets.
The regional police mouthpiece says that in the process, the stray bullet accidently hit the child near the right ear.
Hakiza adds that the suspected thief escaped and was abandoned at Kasingo.
”On pursuing him, the driver abandoned the vehicle and escaped. It was ferried to the police station,” he said.
The police officer however said one of the suspected motor vehicle thieves was arrested on Sunday and he was detained to aid in the arrest of others.
Eight Toyota Premio cars have been stolen in the last two weeks in a wave of vehicle theft that has hit Bunyoro sub region.
Hakiza says the cases have been reported in Hoima where three cars have been stolen, Masindi and Kikuube districts that have lost two cars each and Kakumiro where one has been stolen.
One of the vehicles stolen from Masindi includes the one belonging to the town clerk Kyatiri Town council Ibrahim Nasur that was stolen on Christmas Eve from Brian’s Hotel in Masindi town where he had parked it.
The other belongs to Morris Ngabitho, one of the directors of ENCOT Microfinance that was stolen from his home a week earlier.
Hakiza explained that on 20th December 2022, four assailants attacked the home of one Emmanuel Businge in Kotoole village, Buhimba sub county, Kikuube district and stole his Premio registration number UAP 322G.
The police mouthpiece added the case was reported to police that mounted an operation in which one Moses Tugume was arrested and also recovered a piece of paper with vehicle registration numbers written on it.
Hakiza added that the same gang also stole another car from Kyarusesa village in the same district.
The regional police spokesperson added that the police are interrogating Tugume to help it break into the racket that is causing havoc in the region as they hunt for his accomplices.
The police officer advised the car owners, especially Premio owners, to devise means of securing their vehicles from the thieves by installing sensors or tracking devices in them.