By Kampala Sun writer
Residents of Kyanja, a mushrooming leafy suburb in Kampala woke up to the sounds of sporadic shooting in the area on Tuesday morning.
A jittery UPDF soldier with a rifle in hand kept firing a rapid volley of bullets in the air as he made way towards the trading center sending residents scampering in all directions.
An eye-witness says that the frenzied man dressed in military fatigue, sought temporary refuge in a nearby saloon, where he turned the gun on himself.
As shocked residents tried to take stock of the situation, it later dawned that the soldier had taken his life after killing the State Minister for Labour Charles Okello Engola with a single gun shot.
Initial reports indicate that Charles Okello Engola was stepping out of his home, heading to work when one of his bodyguards shot him dead.
The bodyguard then started aimlessly roaming the neighbourhood while continuing to shoot in the air.
He eventually retreated to a nearby salon, ordered the people cowering inside to leave before he turned the gun on himself.
Witnesses claim that the soldier was yelling that he had not been paid for a long time despite working for a minister.
There are unconfirmed reports that the soldier shot a fellow bodyguard and a maid to the minister, who have since been rushed to hospital.
Engola’s last public appearance was in Namutumba district on International Labour Day yesterday May 1, when he made an impassioned plea to president Museveni to improve the plight of the labour workforce.
