Police in Chipata have arrested and charged with murder an officer who gunned down a Zambia Air Force (ZAF) employee on Monday in unknown circumstances.

42-year-old Joseph Bwalya Chishimba, who was also a Mbala based golfer, was leading Chila and Samora Machel golf clubs of Northern Province to a golf tournament that was held in Chipata over the long weekend before he met his fate.

Police announced on Tuesday that Chishimba died after being hit by a “stray bullet” fired by a cop who was manning the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) regional office after suspecting him of being a thief.

But a postmortem conducted on Chishimba, Wednesday, at Chipata Central Hospital mortuary revealed that he was shot three times.

Eastern Province deputy Commissioner of Police, Geoffrey Kunda confirmed to News Diggers that the sergeant who fired the gun had been arrested and charged with murder.

“Yes we have arrested the officer and he is now detention. He was arrested yesterday and he was charged with murder. His name is Mangolwa Matondo, and he is 41 years old. He was working under the Chipata division as a sergeant. So we arrested him and now we are making other formalities so that he can appear soon in court. That’s all I can say for now,” said Kunda.

Meanwhile, speaking in a separate interview, Chipata Golf club captain Edward Phiri expressed displeasure that police tried to conceal other details in the matter.

“During postmortem, it was discovered that our colleague sustained three gunshot wounds contrary to what was earlier reported that he was hit by a stray bullet. It is really regrettable that police who are supposed the protect people’s lives are instead failing to carry out their duties effectively. There is just no way Chishimba could have been a criminal when he was a renowned golfer. So we are just wondering why the police attempted to protect a criminal,” said Phiri.