Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]
A MIDLANDS State University (MSU) student was allegedly shot dead at point-blank range by her ex-husband, a director at a Bulawayo-based security company, who reportedly threatened fellow students, locked them in a room with her lifeless body and fled in a getaway car following a suspected domestic dispute in Gweru.
The 25-year-old student was allegedly shot once in the forehead at around 5.30pm on Thursday at her residence at Number 1082, Senga KMP, by the suspect, who is now being sought by police.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the university community, with the suspect allegedly holding other students at the residence hostage before escaping in a silver-grey Toyota Wish whose registration number is yet to be established.
Confirming the incident, Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko referred this publication to national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi.
“ZRP confirms a murder case which occurred in KMP, Senga residential suburb on 9 October 2026 at about 5pm. The now deceased, a student at MSU was shot dead and her ex-husband is being suspected. For further details you may get in touch with Commissioner Paul Nyathi,” said Inspector Mahoko.
According to a police memorandum seen by this publication, the ex-husband visited the student at her residence at around 3pm on Thursday before a misunderstanding reportedly arose between them about two-and-a-half hours later.
“The accused then shot the now deceased once on the forehead using an unknown pistol,” reads part of the police report.
The report states that other MSU students staying at the same house rushed out of their rooms after hearing the gunshot, only to be threatened by the suspect, who allegedly warned that he would shoot them.
“He reportedly confiscated their mobile phones and threw them into a toilet chamber before locking them in a room where the lifeless body lay,” reads the report.
The suspect allegedly fled in a Toyota Wish, leaving the students trapped in the room with the deceased.
Police attended the scene alongside detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department and Scenes of Crime officers from Gweru.
The body was found lying face upwards in a pool of blood. The student was dressed in pink pyjamas, and investigators observed a gunshot wound to her forehead.
A 6.25mm cartridge was recovered from the floor, while a broken Itel mobile phone and a Samsung Galaxy A05s were also found in the room.
Further investigations reportedly revealed that the suspect is a director of a Bulawayo-based security company.
Police are hunting for the suspect and are also seeking to recover the firearm allegedly used in the shooting.
The case is being investigated under ZRP Senga RRB 634817 as murder in terms of Section 47 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23].
The suspect remains at large as investigations continue.
