A police officer this afternoon shot a bus driver, Harrison Miti, in the stomach following an argument in Kamwala.

Miti is currently battling for his life at the University Teaching Hospital and a News Diggers! team that rushed there found him under-going surgery.

“The incident happened around 15:50 hours,” an eye witness narrated.

“We were driving on the road behind Kamwala shopping center going towards Kafue road and there was a lot of traffic. So this Flash bus driver was overtaking a long line of vehicles. But just before he passed Kamwala prison, there was a blue and white police car coming in front.”

The witnesses narrated that the police car flashed lights signaling the bus driver to stop and pull over.

“After he stopped, two uniformed officers, who were not wearing white hats the way traffic officers usually do, approached him and they started arguing whilst the driver was still sitting in the bus. It’s like the officer wanted the bus keys but the driver was refusing to surrender them. All over a sudden, we heard a loud bang and moments later the traffic officers sped off. They just left and we didn’t know what happened,” narrated the witness.

“Next thing, we saw people surround the bus and then I saw a passenger leaving the bus with blood on the leg. She was in pain and she couldn’t talk properly. So this other passenger said ‘the officer was drunk and he has shot the driver in the stomach. It’s like the bullet went through and shot the girl in the leg’. When we checked, we found that the driver’s light blue shirt was washed in blood and he was touching his stomach while gasping for air. The passengers were crying and devastated. They kept on asking ‘what is happening in this country?’ There was too much confusion and l left because I feared that the people may start stoning cars.”

When contacted, Lusaka Province police commissioner Nelson Phiri said he had not yet received the report.

“I don’t have that report, let me find out,” said Phiri.

And a News Diggers! team that rushed to UTH could not talk to Miti as he was still undergoing surgery.

A doctor explained that Miti had been admitted in GO1 ward and his condition was critical.

“He will be fine, but he is in the theatre to assess if the bullet missed all vitals (organs). His name has been entered here… gunshot wound in the abdomen,” said the doctor.

“We don’t even have his relatives yet so if you know him maybe you can inform his relatives because there is no next of keen indicated here. And there is no explanation on who shot him.”

And efforts to trace the woman who was also shot at the scene proved futile as her identity is still unknown.