Maria Amakali/Selma Ikela
Windhoek
The police are yet to make an arrest in the case of Romario Gariseb, 22, who was fatally gunned down during a gang fight last Saturday night.
The case involved a police officer who reportedly fired some warning shots into the air in an attempt to disperse the gangs that were fighting.
“It is not yet clear who fired the shot that killed the deceased. At the moment the information is a bit sketchy. It is not yet clear if the deceased died from a gunshot that was fired by the officer or someone else,” explained the Namibian police public relations officer, Inspector Pendukeni Haikali.
Haikali said that with the sketchy information no arrest was possible though police investigations continue.
According to the police report, Gariseb was amongst the gangs involved in a fight at a bar in Eveline Street in Windhoek on Saturday night at around 23h30.
The two gangs were throwing stones and bottles at each other.
“At the time of the incident, a police officer was in the vicinity, who tried to disperse them,” said Haikali.
The police officer fired two warning shots in the air to diffuse the fight. During the fight Gariseb was struck by a bullet in the abdomen. He consequently succumbed to his injuries at the Katutura State Hospital. A member of the gang also got stabbed during the fight.
“The matter is now being investigated by Nampol’s Internal Investigation Unit to establish who fired the shot that killed the deceased,” explained Haikali.
If shots were fired by the gangs, Haikali said, the police were not in possession of such information, adding that based on the officer’s version of events, he was alone when he tried to break up the fight between the two gangs.