Nuusita Ashipala
Ongwediva
Omusati police have arrested a seemingly trigger-happy businessman in Okalongo for allegedly shooting one person and attempting to shoot three others over the weekend.
Police spokesperson in Omusati Region Warrant Officer Lineekela Shikongo confirmed the arrest, but said he has not yet acquainted himself with the charges laid against the suspect.
But a source indicated the suspect is likely to face charges of attempted murder, pointing of a firearm and assault.
Although it is not clear why the suspect started the shooting, the victims suspect he was infuriated by a cellphone they had left at his bar on a charger.
Jonas Mwandingi, who related the story, said the Mwandingi family were on their way to visit their elderly mother when they stopped at the suspect’s bar to charge their cellphone and then went shopping.
Upon returning from shopping at the settlement they sent the youngest of the five people in the car to collect the cellphone, but he was informed by the bar tender that the cellphone was with the owner of the bar and that he did not want cellphones to be charged at his bar.
Mwandingi, who together with an eight-year-old child fled the shooting, related that after some time they went back to the suspect to inform him they were in a rush to tow a car and wanted the cellphone, but he allegedly replied he was busy attending to his gambling machines and could not atttend to them.
But after he was done with the gambling machines he went outside and asked who the owner of the cellphone was and then proceeded to his car.
He then pulled out a pistol from the car’s boot, cocked it and walked to the Mwandingi family’s car.
“He started beating the owner of the cellphone with the pistol, pushed him around and then shot one of the car tyres before shooting him (cellphone owner) twice in the leg,” related Mwandingi.
He proceeded to hit a second person with the gun, shot two more tyres of the car and then tried to shoot another person but who managed to escape.
He tried to shoot a third person who luckily also escaped unhurt.
The person who was shot was admitted to hospital but was discharged on Monday.