Businessman shot dead in Kasangati robbery

A businessman in Kitagobwa, along Nangabo road, was shot and killed by unknown assailants during an armed robbery on Wednesday night.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango identified the deceased as Deo Bwanika, a 51-year-old wholesale shop owner. According to an eyewitness, Joanita Mulungi, two masked men in jackets entered the shop around 11 p.m., pretending to be customers.

When she told them the shop was closing, they pushed her aside and demanded money from a colleague. Two more armed men, one with a gun and another with a machete, then arrived and ordered the employees to lie down while they approached Bwanika at his counter.

“He was trying to escape when they shot him,” Mulungi narrated. “They took all the money he had and emptied the safe, including coins, putting it into a large bag that already contained more cash, likely from another robbery.”

Mulungi estimates the assailants stole approximately Shs 700,000 in cash. This latest incident follows a similar attack last month on Ronald Akwankwatsa, a shop owner in the same area. Akwankwatsa reported that eight armed gunmen stole over Shs 2.5 million from his business.

During that robbery, the assailants ordered him, his wife, and the customers to lie on the floor, and in the process, cut his wife’s hand as they demanded to know where the money was hidden.

Robert Bindandi, an area councillor, is now urging security agencies to increase their presence and combat the rising wave of armed robberies targeting local businesses.

“All our businesspeople who had rapidly developed the area are now worried. It’s one attack after another,” Bindandi said. “They pay taxes, so why can’t the government protect them? We need a police post on this road, which has become a hotbed for armed thugs.”

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