LUSAKA, Zambia — The family of late Zambian security official Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha, who died Monday from gunshot wounds, explicitly denied circulating media speculation that the ex-minister took his own life.
Shikapwasha passed away in a military hospital ICU after undergoing initial surgery for traumatic injuries sustained from a shooting incident at his Lusaka home on Sunday evening.
But speaking Tuesday on behalf of mourning relatives, Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha’s cousin Alex Mapushi categorically dismissed rumours the former air force commander had shot himself.
Mapushi, also a high-ranking civic leader, stated “He did not shoot himself.” He reiterated that the 76-year-old veteran statesman was with his wife when the fateful gun violence transpired according to preliminary investigation.
The deputy permanent secretary revealed that Shikapwasha underwent lengthy emergency operation Sunday night into Monday morning for severe organ damage and blood loss from a gunshot blast.
Doctors had planned follow-up surgery to fully treat internal trauma once the former minister stabilised. But Shikapwasha ultimately passed away from “acute abdominal [wounds] secondary gunshot” complications before that, Mapushi explained.
With the ex-brigadier general’s shocking death making national headlines, family representatives urgently clarified the shooting was not intentional self-inflicted harm amidst conjecture about suicide.
As speculation swirls, Zambian police maintain an open probe trying to unravel puzzling details surrounding the violence that claimed Shikapwasha’s life and who pulled the trigger.
