Alleged shooter records tragic events on Facebook

The 31-year-old man accused of killing one person and seriously injuring seven others during a shooting spree at Omutundungu village in the Omusati Region might have hinted on Facebook days prior to the tragic incident what he was planning. Posting under the alias Hambabau Wakalongo, the man accused of murder, rape, and attempted murder allegedly recorded the shootings on Facebook as they were happening. Without giving clear reasons as to why he went on a shooting spree except that he “felt like it” (osho aike ndahala), the alleged shooter from Okalongo also posted the hymn he wanted to be sung at his funeral. It is alleged that the gunman raped a 14-year-old girl at his home on Friday around 14:00 before he went on an unexplained shooting spree. The man allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend several times at around 20:00 and left her for dead while on her way home from a cuca shop, as well as patrons at three cuca shops at Omutwe Wondjaba. Five more people were wounded at the cuca shops, while a sixth person, identified as 41-year-old Otto Namweyo, was killed on the spot during the shooting at Omutwe Wondjaba. An additional case of cruelty to animals and malicious damage to property was lodged against the alleged shooter by the villager whose cattle were killed and injured during the rampage. In a Facebook status update at 20:55 the gunman reported to his online contacts what he had done in a post that translates as “I’m shooting the neighbour’s dogs. You’re causing me to shoot at the neighbour’s dogs but you’re just making noise.” In a comment he posted on that same status update on the night of the shooting at 21:03, the shooter wrote: “mongula ileni kenghali dange” (Come and mourn me tomorrow). An hour later at 22:09, he again posted “ndayashapo vali umue poshipale” (I shot another one at the threshing floor) perhaps hinting at the seventh person he wounded at Onambome village while fleeing from the police. When asked by his Facebook followers what he was talking about, the alleged shooter, in a post at 22:36, told commentators to buy Monday’s newspaper to read all about his “work”. In what was perhaps a sign of things to come, in a comment he posted under a picture on June 3, the alleged shooter wrote that he had lodged a case with the traditional authority in which he was stabbed but that the traditional authority was taking too long to finalise the matter. He goes on to say: “kakuna mafiku mahapu ndikakufele oveta yange ame mwene” (In a few days I will take the law into my own hands). The pictures he posted, including the one he set as his profile picture, are of him wearing the blood-stained T-shirt that he was supposedly wearing when he was recently stabbed by a fellow villager at a cuca shop. The villager accused of stabbing him lives at the house where the gunman shot four cattle and killed two of them during the shooting rampage. The victims of the shooting rampage are receiving medical treatment for their wounds at various district hospitals, while the alleged gunman is receiving treatment at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital after he was shot in the arms and legs by police officers while trying to flee into Angola. He is expected to appear in court once he has made a full recovery.