Soldier kills commander, shoots self

Private Jacques Niyongabo on Sunday shot and killed his superior, Capt Stan Nyirinkindi, and wounded Lieutenant Innocent Sekiromba before he turned the muzzle on himself. The deceased Captain Nyirinkindi was the commander of A Company of 17th Battalion attached to the 501 Brigade in the Western Province. The shooting took place at a Genocide memorial vigil in Karangiro cell in Rusizi District. “The soldier killed himself after shooting his commander who he was escorting. He also wounded the Lieutenant on the leg…up to now investigations are still going on to ascertain the real cause because residents say it happened after a quarrel,” Celestin Kabahizi, the Governor of Western Province said in an interview. According to sources, the two officers were trying to calm down an irritated Niyongabo who had picked a quarrel with a resident and they tried to disarm him. In the process, he pulled the trigger on them before shooting himself dead. When contacted, Rwanda Defence Forces spokesperson Maj Jill Rutaremara confirmed the incident, saying that the soldier shot his commanders as they tried to avert a scuffle between him and the residents. “We are suspecting that it could have been caused by trauma because this soldier has had no history of improper conduct, however, this is not conclusive because investigations are still ongoing,” said Rutaremara when contacted last evening. According to unconfirmed reports, Niyongabo is said to have lost both his parents to militia during the insurgency a few years after the Genocide. Ends

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Soldier kills commander, shoots self