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Police in Tanzania have shot dead a man who went on killing spree in the country’s capital Dar es Salaam killing at least four people.
According to his history, the man behind the Wednesday’s deadly attack was born and raised as a good boy in the city’s Upanga suburb, his neighbours reportedly said yesterday.
On Wednesday at the junction of Kenyatta Drive and Kinondoni Road, Hamza Mohammed abruptly ended the lives of four people before he was shot dead, an attack that was well captured by people near the area.
Police reported the death of five people: three police officers, a security guard and the gunman himself. Six other people were injured in the wild shooting between the police and the gunman. Police have since taken members of Mohammed’s family for interrogations in connection with the incident.
However, neighbours say Mohammed was a good mosque goer and a person who would not pass without greeting them.
“He always travelled by motorbike but would stop and greet us each and every time that he passed,” said Ms Khadija Ramadhan, a food vendor close to the gate of the two-storey apartment where Hamza lived with her mother and other family members.
She said Mohammed led a private life and would only be seen when going out or returning from his tasks.
A trader who runs her shop a few metres from where Mohamed’s family live said Mohammed was a quiet man who would greet him, have a few pleasantries with him, before buying bread and going back to his house.
“I never saw or heard of him quarrelling with anyone for the entire time that I had known him. At no point did he show signs of violence and that was why I was surprised to see him wielding guns when I downloaded a video of him on my phone,” he said, requesting not to be named.
A taxi driver, Yusuph Kipendi said he normally saw Mohammed riding his motorbike and that he would always stop to greet people before continuing with his journey.
“On the day of the incident, I was driving along the roads of the neighbourhood around 9.00 am when I met him on his bike. He stopped to greet me and informed me he was on his way to town. Little did I know that a few hours later, I would see him on social media in that horrendous situation,” he said.
He stressed that he did not expect to see a boy he saw growing up, in a rage that drove him to kill security personnel before his life was also taken.
A casual worker, Hussein Juma said he knew the deceased as a quiet and humble man who would go to the mosque time and again.
According to him, the deceased would call him to do some menial work including washing clothes and sweeping the compound among others.
He said, during all that time he never saw him being violent but noted that when he went to Egypt for further studies he came back a changed man more secluded and would not speak to anyone other than greetings.
Omary Waziri Issa, a taxi driver who parks his vehicle close to the shooter’s residence, said he knew the person right from his days as a small boy. He said he recently saw him on his motorbike.
He said he knew him to be a normal person who had nothing strange.
“I know he is one of the four children in their family and that their father died some years ago. The four kids inherited their father’s businesses, including a gold mining business at Chunya in Mbeya Region and, since that time, they have been coming to see their mother and leave for their respective workplaces,” said Issa.
The house they live in is not theirs but a rented premise. He said the young man was born right at Upanga and had been brought up there.
Police could not comment on the matter yesterday but commissioner of operations and training Liberatus Sabas said they would pay last respects to bodies of three officers, who were killed, today (Friday).
