BUGESERA - An army unit of the13th army battalion in Bugesera district on Saturday morning shot and killed two armed thugs in a shoot-out as they tried to flee. One was arrested.

The gang had just robbed a family in Nyanza district, in the southern Province, shooting and seriously wounding one of their victims. Among those killed was a notorious thug, former CID officer Xavier Murangira together with Morris Rugunga.

One member of the gang, Leonald Nshimyumuremyi, the driver of the salon car in which the thugs were travelling was later captured after abandoning the car. He is now in police custody.

The gang had made off with Rwf 4.7million they had stolen from the owners of a beer depot in Nyanza where they shot and injured Iliza Josianne, the daughter of the late prominent businessman, Tharcisse Karangwa. She is currently admitted at National University of Rwanda Hospital in critical conditions.

Police reports indicate that the gang was apprehended after inquiring directions to the Rwanda-Burundi border from a local night patrol thereby raising suspicion.

According to police spokesperson John Uwamungu, when the civilian patrol tried to apprehend them, one of them pulled out a pistol and shot in the air to scare away the villagers. They then disappeared into the night.

The gunfire attracted a nearby army patrol  of the 13th  Battalion which immediately arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area. A shootout then followed leading to the deaths of the robbers.

The money was apparently picked and shared by local residents during the chase but efforts to recover it were still underway. Only Rwf 579,000 had been recovered by press time.

Uwamungu appealed to the population to cooperate with the police and return the missing money.

Murangira and Rugunga’s bodies are currently lying at ADEPER hospital mortuary in Bugesera district.

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