Motorist guns down parking marshal
By Farayi Machamire
A moment of madness by a 24-year-old man who was driving a Subaru yesterday left the Central Business District (CBD) at a standstill and passers-by with their hearts in their mouths after he shot and killed a vendor in cold blood.
The man gunned down the 40-year-old vendor who earned a living from illegally allocating parking space to motorists along Kwame Nkrumah Avenue.
The Daily News arrived at the scene as the motorist was being beaten up by a mob before he was whisked away by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) details.
The angry mob then proceeded to torch his Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon before fleeing the scene of the crime, with the fire damaging a part of nearby QV Pharmacy.
Police confirmed the incident, which inadvertently forced nearby shops to close, saying the Subaru driver had an altercation with vendors after parking his vehicle.
“We would like to confirm the death of a 40-year-old man following a shooting incident that occurred at corner Angwa Street and Nkwame Nkrumah near QV Pharmacy, Harare today (yesterday), in the morning,” ZRP deputy spokesperson Paul Nyathi said.
“Circumstances are that a 24-year-old man parked his Subaru car at the corner of Angwa Street and Nkwame Nkrumah, Harare and left his two sisters in the car while carrying out business in the CBD. Five men approached the sisters who were seated in the Subaru and demanded that the car be removed from where it was parked. A dispute arose and the two sisters called the owner of the vehicle.
“When the owner of the Subaru came back a dispute ensued resulting in him drawing a pistol.
He then fired a shot which resulted in the death of the 40-year-old.
The mob that had gathered then became violent and set the Subaru vehicle on fire.
The police quickly moved in and managed to arrest the 24-year-old and the four men who had incited the violence.”
Nyathi warned members of the public to desist from interfering with movement of traffic and allocation of parking space for vehicles in the CBD.
“The law will certainly take its course on people who engage in activities bent on hindering the maintenance of law and order,” he said.
Shop owners around the area said this was not the first-time gun shots had been fired in the area saying dealers would occasionally pull out pistols to threaten each other during their informal transactions.
“We have been witnessing an increase of incidences of people threatening each other with guns near and around the old Ximex Mall.
“The only sad thing is that this thing is going unreported,” said the shop owner who also declined to be named fearing reprisals. Daily News.
