Kampala, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | Forensic experts have determined that the pistol used in the fatal shooting of vlogger Isma Olaxes was the same weapon employed in the recent attack on Pastor Aloysius Bugingo.
The assault on Pastor Bugingo resulted in the tragic death of his bodyguard and driver, Corporal Richard Muhumuza, a highly trained soldier from the Special Forces Command (SFC) responsible for safeguarding key figures and installations in the country.
A ballistic examination of the recovered bullets from Pastor Bugingo’s vehicle, the crime scene, and the projectiles retrieved from Corporal Muhumuza’s body has established a direct connection to the pistol used in Isma Olaxes’s murder.
Isma Olaxes was killed in May 2023 outside his residence in Kyanja, Nakawa Division, Kampala.
Despite an eight-month investigation, detectives have yet to make any significant progress, and no suspects have been apprehended in connection with Olaxes’s case.
“As we had said earlier the pistol is not in any of the security agencies’ records. But we have now established that the same pistol that killed Isma Olaxes is the same that was used in the failed assassination of Pr. Bugingo,” sources told the Kampala Dispatch.
Muhumuza’s body was found with 13 bullet wounds and seven bullets were retrieved from his body. Isma Olaxes was shot six times even though in total security collected nine cartridges.
Meanwhile, Pr. Bugingo’s vehicle has been removed from the Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS) at Naguru police headquarters to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) in Kibuli. This was after the Directorate Crime Intelligence (DCI) and DFS agreed that the vehicle should be handed over to CID headquarters.
It was driven by a police driver to CID headquarters where the investigations are being headed by Senior Commissioner of Police -SCP Beata Chelimo.
Also Read: Surviving against odds: Pastor Bugingo’s resilience after assassination attempt
However, drama ensued as senior CID officers questioned who authorized the transfer of the vehicle to their headquarters without the director’s consent.
Because of the disagreements on who should keep Pr. Bugingo’s vehicle which has 11 visible bullet holes, it was agreed that it should be handed over to the Inspector of Vehicles Officer (IOV) at Old Kampala.
Investigators have since collected seven CCTV videos from Salt Media premises, police security cameras on the road including cameras on private buildings in an attempt to unearth the whole truth behind the botched assassination.
