There is panic in Hoima police barracks after one officer committed suicide by shooting himself inside the barracks.
According to Julius Hakiza, the Albertine regional police public relations officer the victim has been identified as Police Constable Lawrence Kayanga, aged 34.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Hakiza says that Kayanga shot himself at about 6pm on Wednesday at the time when he was expected to report for evening duty.
He says the deceased left behind a suicide note with the phrase: "I have decided to do it because I have no strength and peace."
Hakiza says that by the time Kayanga shot himself dead, his wife was not in their house. He adds that the body of the deceased who hails from Eastern Uganda is at the Hoima regional referral hospital mortuary pending postmortem by police pathologists.
Asked about how a police officer managed to have a gun in his house inside the barracks, Hakiza says the deceased had just signed for the gun as he reported for evening duty but may be decided to head direct to his home to do the act of suicide.
Sources within the police barracks that preferred anonymity said the deceased had had domestic issues with his wife. Kayanga had reportedly asked another woman in the barracks to counsel his wife and as a result, upon his return home, she engaged him in a verbal attack asking why their domestic issues are leaked to a third party.
Sources say Kayanga shot himself dead moments after his wife had walked out of the house to fetch water from a tap within the barracks.