admin
Kamangeni Phiri/ Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Reporters
POLICE officers at Shurugwi Central Police Station are in panic mode after an armed robbery suspect shot himself in the abdomen on Thursday evening and died on the spot while in police custody.
The now deceased Simbarashe Muchengeti, 39, a suspected armed robber in Shurugwi who for long had been on the police wanted list, died as a result of excessive bleeding.
Informed police sources said Muchengeti had been picked up by the police for questioning in connection with a series of armed robberies and illegal gold deals among other cases.
“When the police brought Muchengeti to the police station, the suspect asked for permission to visit the toilet. One of the officers gave him the green light. Unbeknown to the police officers, Muchengeti was armed. They suddenly heard a gunshot coming from the toilet and the police officers scurried for cover,” said a source.
The sources said when some of the police officers gathered courage, they went to the toilet to investigate and found Muchengeti lying in a pool of blood.
They said the police officers discovered that Muchengeti had shot himself once in the abdomen with a revolver.
“The desperate police officer tried to resuscitate Muchengeti but he died on the spot due to excessive bleeding. His body was taken to Shurugwi District Hospital mortuary,” said the source.
The source said the three investigating officers who arrested the now deceased suspect were in trouble with their superiors for failing to routinely conduct a body search on the suspect and disarm him.
Police spokesperson for Midlands Province Inspector Joel Goko was tight-lipped on the issue when Chronicle contacted him for comment on Saturday.
Insp Goko could only say he was still to get details from their Shurugwi station.
Said a source: “He was arrested in Shurugwi town on Thursday evening following a tip off from members of the public. The police officers who arrested Muchengeti did not bother to conduct a body search but were quick to drag him to the Charge Office where he then tricked them into allowing him to visit the toilet”.
The source said Muchengeti’s body would be taken to Bulawayo for postmortem.
Added the source:
“The incident is still the talk of Shurugwi. The jobs of the police officers who handled the issue are now hanging by a thread because they failed to perform a simple task of searching the suspect upon arrest.”
A relative to the now deceased, Mambo Chivanganye, an ex-freedom fighter, said they were still puzzled as to how their relative shot himself in the presence of police officers at the police station.
He said they were planning to bury Muchengeti at his rural home in Mberengwa today.
“As the bereaved family, we are still struggling to find answers as to how our relative managed to shoot himself inside a police charge office in the presence of competent officers. The police were supposed to have disarmed him in the first place.
“That’s a routine duty,” he said.
Online Reporter