HARARE – A police officer was accidentally shot and killed by a colleague while pursuing a robbery suspect on Saturday, an internal police memo reveals.

The tragic officer, identified only as Detective Constable Taambutseni from Chivhu Police Station, was shot in the pelvis with an AK 47 rifle fired by a colleague.

Taambutseni was part of a nine-man police team in pursuit of Mussa Denge, 43, who was wanted in connection with the theft of motor vehicles in Kadoma and Bulawayo.

The police team included four detectives from the CID Vehicle Theft Squad in Bulawayo, including Detective Sergeant Masanzu Zisengwe, who was armed with an AK 47 rifle.

After tailing Denge’s vehicle from Chivhu centre to the main residential suburb in the small town, the police memo says the officers watched the suspect drive into a house.

The officers jumped out of their vehicle and went into the house on foot. Zisengwe, the memo says, was firing warning shots in the meantime.

“Taambutseni was first to get to the accused person, and when he was about to grab the accused person, he was shot on the pelvis,” the memo says, without clarifying who shot Taambutseni.

Police sources told ZimLive on Sunday that the fatal shot was fired by Zisengwe.

A top detective who has worked with Zisengwe said: “He’s a very experienced detective, and I can’t for the life of me wrap my head around this. Why would he fire warning shots in the direction of a suspect and a colleague?”

Officer Taambutseni died from his injuries at Chivhu General Hospital.

The other officers successfully took Denge into custody without further incident.