GUNFIRE DRAMA AT KISEKA! Shooting Spree Leaves Spare Parts Hub Dealers Scrambling for Safety

Traders at Kiseka Market say a one-hour shooting spree by security operatives inside shops forced the business center to close as people scrambled to save their lives.

The traders in arcades on Aga-khan Road kept their shops closed for over two hours on Monday, after plain-clothed security operatives in a “drone” vehicle clashed with them at Original Kiseka Spare Parts Center Arcade. The confrontation started when traders resisted arrests.

A trader at the arcade, who asked not to be named, said security operatives in a drone minibus parked near the building. Three pistol-wielding officers went to the second floor of a spare parts shop and tried to arrest a trader, but he demanded their IDs and to know the charges against him.

The trader added that the officers were in a hurry and were unwilling to be questioned. They tried to forcibly remove him from the shop as their colleagues waited in the busy arcade below. The confrontation intensified when they attempted to drag him downstairs, prompting fellow traders to shout and demand an explanation for the arrest.

A trader narrated thus: “People from other shops started shouting, ‘Who are you? Where are you taking him?’ Then six more men jumped out, took positions and started shooting in the air and at the sixth floor where mechanics were running and screaming. When they fired, people in the next arcade started throwing stones at them.”

The trader said the situation escalated as the men were overwhelmed by noise and projectiles. They abandoned the arrest, left in the van toward Nakivubo Police Station, made a U-turn, and returned to the market discharging bullets in the air before departing as the situation was brought to normal by military police that took over the street.

According to Joseph Akiiki, a motorcycle spare parts operator, the confrontation between the said security operatives and the public created panic. He said that shops were shut as shots were fired in the air, with the bulk of the gunfire targeting the upper floor of buildings where people were hiding.

He added that the operatives were in plain clothes and wielding guns, but he could not ascertain who was arrested, noting however that arrests may have been made on the day.

“We are left with many questions,” Akiiki said. “We shut our shops and fled to save our lives. We do not understand the reason for the indiscriminate gunfire. Had their intention been to arrest criminals, they would not have come in plain clothes, as the public tends to resist unknown persons. Furthermore, why was there shooting inside the buildings? Innocent people could have been killed.”

Police Spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police Kituuma Rusoke, said the team was at Original Kiseka Spare Parts Centre in Kiseka Market to arrest suspected offenders. According to him, some individuals became violent and tried to block the lawful arrest.

Videos of the incident taken by members of the public have gone viral on at both international and national platforms, drawing criticism of security agencies’ conduct, particularly plain-clothed operatives seen pointing guns in crowded buildings and opening fire.

Kituuma, however, said the shots were fired to disperse an unruly crowd and restore order, and that the officers only fired warning shots in the air.

Some Ugandans have blamed the conduct of security agencies during arrests and poor respect for human rights for ongoing negative U.S. travel advisories on Uganda, which they say damage trade and tourism.