Police release identities of Freedom City Stampede victims

The police have arrested event promoter Abbey Musinguzi of Abtex Promotions following the death of 10 people including children during his end-of-year party after-party’ event at the Freedom City Mall over the weekend.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga identified the deceased during the weekly police press briefing at Naguru on Monday. And these are; Ibrahim Kizito 11 years, Mary Namyalo, and Daniel Kibuka both 14 years old, Hadijja Nakakande, Viola Nakanwagi, Hadijja Nakimati Shafiq Mwanje and Margaret Nakatumba, 29.

According to Enanga, a body of a 16-year-old male juvenile who died at an unnamed private clinic where he was rushed for emergency treatment remains unidentified at the Kampala Capital City Authority – KCCA mortuary.

Enanga says that preliminary police findings reveal that more than 500 revellers were attending the concert organized by Abitex promotions. However, the deadly stampede happened when the Master of Ceremony asked the crowd to move out to view the fireworks display in the parking yard.

The crowd allegedly went wild forcing their way through a narrow passage into the parking yard while the organizers locked four other exit routes to keep away non-ticketed partygoers or intruders. Several revellers were then trapped and trampled upon through the narrow corridor.

According to Enanga, specialist teams from the Criminal Intelligence Investigations Department including Forensics, Counter Terrorism and Crime Intelligence are still investigating the tragedy to determine if the show organizers complied with the security, health and crowd control measures.

Enanga adds that Abitex has been arrested to help with investigations as several juveniles below the consent age of 18 were allowed into the adult concert.

“Children below 18 are not legally allowed to attend adult concerts. So far, our specialist teams continue to carry out investigations,” says Enanga.

“Our areas of interest are the access and exit controls, the safety measures against crowd control, safety measures against disorders and stampedes, and evacuation plans, we want to establish whether paramedics and ambulances were on site, the number of stewards and ushers who were dedicated to the event and the number of people attending the concert among others,” he added.