Police officer shot dead while foiling armed robbery in Bulawayo

A police officer died after being shot in the head by armed robbers in Bulawayo's Luveve suburb on Monday night.

Constable Gibson Tafara Madzimure, 35, was shot at the home of an illegal foreign currency dealer who had sought police help just hours earlier after reporting that he was being followed by suspicious people.

He was rushed to Mpilo Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

An internal police memo of the incident, seen by ZimLive, said an "illegal money changer", 29-year-old Last Mukomawashe, went to the Criminal Investigations Department Homicide division at 2PM on Monday to report that he was being followed by men he suspected intended to rob him.

Mukomawashe told police he had been given information that he was "being targeted by an armed robbery gang which travelled all the way from their base in South Africa."

Police say acting on the information, a team of detectives from CID Homicide and a Police Special Tactics Team from ZRP Support Unit at Fairbridge were placed on high alert to monitor Mukomawashe, while some officers were stationed at his home in New Luveve.

At about 7PM, Mukomawashe arrived home where some police officers were already stationed.

"When Constable Madzimure saw Mukomawashe open the gate, he moved forward from his position without observing the three armed robbers who were now just closely behind Mukomawashe. He was shot in the head by one of the suspects who fled from the scene on foot," the police memo said.

Last Saturday, police shot and killed three men trying to rob a mining equipment dealer in Bulawayo's Fourwinds suburb. Three other men were taken into custody.

Police said the six men, who are linked to other armed robberies in the city, had also just come in from South Africa with the intention of committing robberies.

Between March and June this year, Bulawayo police reported 32 armed robberies in the city, including the fatal shooting of a till operator at a liquor store in Ascot.