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Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
A SENIOR police officer in Bulawayo yesterday allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in his office at Westgate Police Station.

Chief Inspector Edgar Dube (50), the Officer-in-Charge of the Police Protection Unit at Westgate, used a service pistol to shoot himself at around 7AM.

There was no suicide note but a Bible, opened to Romans Chapter Two, was found beside his body in his blood spattered office.

The first verse reads: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

Sources close to the matter said he was found with a gun in his hand and a gunshot wound under his right ear and above his left eye.

National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the incident.

“I confirm that a police officer shot himself and investigations on the case are underway,” she said.

A source within the police camp said a subordinate found the body in a pool of blood yesterday morning.

“Officers who were on night shift said they had last seen him at around 6AM that morning as he did some duties,” said the source.

He said the subordinate stumbled on the body about two hours later.

Another source said the gun that Chief Insp Dube is suspected to have shot himself with had been fully loaded and only one bullet was missing.

“Dube didn’t leave behind a suicide note but people close to him claim that he was having domestic problems. Others claim he was unhappy after being recently transferred to Bulawayo from Harare,” the source said.

Police officers who spoke on condition of anonymity said the suspected suicide was shocking because Chief Insp Dube was “a nice easy-going old man.”

“It really doesn’t make sense. He had served more than 20 years, which means he was due for retirement and a hefty severance package of at least $25 000 among other perks.

“It was established that Dube had taken the pistol from the camp’s armoury the previous day as he knocked off duty at around 4PM. He claimed that he intended to use the gun for patrols during the night,” said the source.

@winnie_masara.