MBABANE _ A police officer based in Lavumisa was accidentally shot by his colleague while at Lavumisa Police Station on Saturday morning.
Lavumisa is located in the south-east tip of Eswatini, in the Shiselweni Region, approximately 175km from Mbabane. The shot police officer is currently admitted to one of the country’s major hospitals where he is reportedly fighting for his life. According to insiders, the police officers were from arresting suspects who had assaulted a resident in one of the areas under Lavumisa when upon arrival at the police station, one of the guns that were carried by the police officers was unintentionally discharged. One of the police officers was hit in the shoulder.
Discharge
An unintentional discharge is when a firearm discharges (firing) at a time not intended by the user. An unintended discharge may be produced by an incompatibility between firearm design and usage, such as the phenomenon of cooking off a round in a closed bolt machine gun, a mechanical malfunction as in the case of slamfire in an automatic weapon, or be user induced due to training issues or negligence. Unintentional shooting can lead to criminal charges, ranging from misdemeanour criminal negligence to felony-level manslaughter. Accidental shootings that result in fatalities attract more serious charges. “The officers were at the Lavumisa Police Station having arrested the accused person when the service rifle of one of them went off and hit his colleague in the upper shoulder,” said the source. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the incident. In an almost similar incident last year, a police officer based at Hlatikhulu Police Station was accidentally shot by his colleague.
