HARARE – Police have blamed soldiers for provoking the fatal shooting of three, who include the killer’s 18-year-old girlfriend, by a Rushinga soldier who later took his own life using the same rifle just after midnight on Saturday.

In a memo, the Officer in Charge of Rushinga Police Station named the killer soldier as Corporal Henry Ncube of 2.2 Combat Group Mudzi but was attached at Rushinga Army base at the time.

Those he gunned to death were named as Justice Makiwa, aged 33, Victor Mufaro Dzowa, a 38-year-old CIO operative and Evernice Magwenzi, his girlfriend.

Ncube was armed with an AK47 rifle loaded with 30 bullets, police have revealed.

One Inspector Munemo Munetsi was also shot by Ncube but escaped with injuries after hospital treatment.

According to the memo, Ncube and a colleague entered Chikuni Bottle Store at Rushinga business centre on the fateful night dressed in army fatigue while armed with rifles.

“This did not go well with the patrons who were in the bottle,” reads the police memo.

Further narrating the unfortunate incident, police report that Makiwa was drinking beer outside his Toyota Fortuner at Rushinga Business Centre together with Dzaoma when he was approached by Ncube and his colleague.

“A conversation ensued between the two soldiers and the now deceased Justice Makiwa and they had a heated argument,” police said.

“The accused person cocked his rifle and shot Justice Makiwa on the head once and he fell down.

“The accused fired more shots, one of which grazed Corporal Simbo Tawanda once on the left hand as he was trying to disarm him.

“The accused also shot the second deceased Victor Mufaro Dzaoma on the abdomen while the latter was trying to restrain him from further discharging his firearm.”

An Inspector Munemo Munetsi was taken to hospital bleeding “profusely” and was treated.

Ncube, according to the memo, left for the army barracks where he lives and shot his unsuspecting girlfriend on the head as she lay on the bed.

He then turned the lethal weapon on himself, shooting himself on the neck.

Police later found Makiwa’s lifeless body covered with a pink cloth, blood and was oozing from his head next to his car.

Dzaoma also lay facing upwards some 7 mitres away with a gunshot wound on the abdomen.

“A trail of blood was leading from the steps of Goto bottle store to his resting place,” police said.

At the second scene, police added, the room door was wide open with his young girlfriend’s body “lying facing upwards and suspected brains were splashed on the bed”.

“She was covered with a blanket/suggesting that she was shot while asleep,” police said.

“The late Corporal Ncube was dressed in army uniform lying facing upwards and had a gun shot on the neck. Suspected brains were protruding. The AK47 rifle was between his legs.

“The two bodies were on the same bed and blankets had blood stains. One AK 47 cartridge was seen on the floor.”

Officers from the forensic science laboratory who were part of the team that attended the murder scenes are yet to determine the number of rounds discharged, according to the police memo.

In a covering comment, the officer in charge of Rushinga said “the soldiers provoked the situation by entering the public place drinking beer and armed with rifles”.