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Anger in Uganda over shooting of Alfred Olango by US cop
Ugandans are expressing anger over the killing of Alfred Olango by a US cop with many especially in the town he left more than two decades ago to escape poverty and conflict voicing their displeasure over his death.
Alfred, 38, was shot in El Cajon, California, by two officers responding to a report of a mentally unstable man walking in traffic, after he pointed an object at them that turned out to be an electronic cigarette.
His case was the latest in a string of shootings of mostly unarmed black men by police officers in the United States that have led to sometimes violent protests.
Read also: 1 killed, 114 injured after train crashes into platform in US
“He ran away from problems to safety and they treat him like that? Is it because he’s black? Why?” said Olango’s uncle Simon Nyeko in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu, weeping at his home of a few thatched huts at the end of a dirt road.
Family friend Otti Jino, 77, said he was saddened by the killing. “We need our son back here in Uganda to be buried here,” he added.
Olango’s mother, Pamela Benge, who lives in the United States, said on Thursday her son was suffering a mental breakdown when confronted by police. His brother said he had two daughters.
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