One student shot dead after Gulu High riot over Manchester derby

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | One student has been confirmed to have died during a violent strike at Gulu Central High School on Sunday night. The deceased has been identified as Gabriel Rwotomiya, a senior three-student.

Eyewitnesses say he was shot atop a mango tree in the school compound while trying to escape from the school premises. People who saw the deceased’s lifeless body being evacuated from the tree this morning and taken to the Gulu Regional Referral Hospital morgue told URN that the bullet shattered his jaws.

Several other students are nursing injuries at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital while others are still unconscious, the majority of them girls. Security rushed to deploy at Gulu Central High School in Bardege-Layibi division Gulu City on Sunday to quell a violent strike by the students protesting the decision by the management not to broadcast a live English football match between Manchester City and Manchester United played at Etihad Stadium in England.   Man City won the game 4-1.

URN visited the school this morning and found the computer laboratory, store, main hall, window panes, and Eastern side of the perimeter wall fence extensively damaged.  The school bus registration number UAP 084 U was also badly damaged during the strike and was towed to Gulu Central Police Station.

Alfred Otema, the Bwonagweno Village Chairperson, says that a group of security officers comprising the police and soldiers used live bullets to contain the rowdy students. Nancy Agenorwot, an eyewitness and neighbour at the school who offered first aid and rushed five injured female students to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital for treatment described the situation as disturbing.

One of the casual workers at the school who spoke on condition of anonymity, says that this is the worst experience at the school since its establishment about 30 years ago.  Lamson Okello, the Director of Studies, says that the students turned rowdy after they were ordered to stop watching the football match and go for preps.

Heavily armed officers from the Field Force Unit-FFU and soldiers have maintained their presence in the school compound to avert any possible chaos. David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson, told URN that he was yet to get details from the army since it is said that it was one of their officers who shot the student.

Gulu Central High School is privately owned by Dr David Onen. It is one of the leading mixed-day and boarding schools in Northern Uganda. It has about 1,000 students enrolment.

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URN