Gorreti Kyeswa: An eyewitness account of how a ‘frustrated’ security guard went on a shooting spree

Written by on January 25, 2019

At around 7pm on Wednesday, a security guard went on shooting spree along Ben Kiwanuka Street over unknown reasons.  First forward, three people were either killed or injured in the shooting spree by the private guard that police later arrested and identified as Caleb Muhwezi attached to Swatt Security Company.  The police identified the deceased as Brenda Bukoye, 36, a resident of Nsambya and Anita Nanyonjo a student at Kampala University as being injured but could not account for the third victim.

What happened?

To Gorreti Kyeswa, the pictures of what happened on the fateful evening are still fresh in her mind that she even failed to sleep due to nightmares.  “As many of us proceeded to the Usafi Taxi Park, others moved in the opposite direction to catch taxis at Old Taxi Park. As I walked along the pavement, I realized a private security officer guarding Finca micro-finance stopped people from using the path,”Kyeswa narrates.  “He was quarreling and saying we could not use the pavement to walk.”  As fate would have it, Kyeswa moved a few steps back after realizing the guard was armed with a rifle and was serious on stopping people from using the pavement near the microfinance.
She however says that in no minute, the security guard started pushing one “tall light skinned man” using his(guard) back as he prevented him from using the route.

Bullets fired

It was not long that the private security guard who was now angered corked his gun and aimed at the by-passers.  “One lady who was beside me was shot and fell down prompting many of us to run for our dear lives” Kyeswa narrates adding that people scampered for their dear lives in all directions.  “I found myself crossing the road to other side but before I could settle, another bullet went off. I tried to force myself into one of the nearby taxis but its door was closed.”  She narrates that many other people jumped onto taxis without ascertaining the routes they were headed to as the worse turned to worst and for Kyeswa, she fell kissed the ground for more than two times as she tried to save her dear life.  “I bruised my leg and my blood pressure rose .I felt dizzy and could not believe what was going on.”  In a scene like one scripted for action packed movies, one brave man got hold of the security guard , before grabbing the  gun from him saving a number of people.  “The man that the security guard had earlier pushed ‘arrested’ him before grabbing the gun from him and run with it to the nearby Mega Standard police post.”
However, in another movie –like scene, people developed cold feet again after seeing a man run with the gun to an unknown direction thinking he was the guard trying to shoot again.  “All this happened in a short time and people didn’t know what was happening. They took to their heels again to save their lives from the ‘security guard’ whom they thought had run mad. They screamed louder,”Kyeswa narrated.  As this movie went on, two unidentified men swung into action arresting the security guard before taking him to the nearby police post.  Kyeswa adds that she later called her husband who asked her to rush to hospital from where she was checked and the blood pressure was still high.  “I didn’t sleep the entire night. Memories of the fateful evening continued running in my head. I only caught sleep in the morning,” she adds.

Why the security guard turned mad

According to Kyeswa, the security guard was angered when the vendors who usually operate from the pavement near his beat refused to pay for using the place as usually it was.  “He usually collects shs1000 from each of the vendors but on Wednesday, they had allegedly refused to pay him,”Kyeswa said.  It is also said that the security guard turned the anger on members of the public who he stopped from using ‘his’ pavement.  Private security guards have in past been involved in incidents of robbery or murder by shooting and this police blames on lack of enough training to these men.  Police also says that it has   on a number of occasions tried to reach out to private security companies to have their personnel trained by experienced police trainers, a number of them have not heeded to the call.  A number of these security guards are poorly paid by their bosses prompting them to engage in criminal acts .


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