The US Department of State last Thursday tendered a letter of condolence regarding the death of Olango to the Ugandan embassy authorities in Washington DC.

KAMPALA- The US has promised to push for the immediate release of findings of the September 28 shooting that led to the death of the Ugandan Alfred Olango.

The US Department of State last Thursday tendered a letter of condolence regarding the death of Olango to the Ugandan embassy authorities in Washington DC.

The letter, diplomatic sources told this newspaper, was delivered to Ambassador Olive Wonekha by the director, office of East African Affairs Eric Whitaker, who was accompanied by the desk officer for Uganda, Sean Comber at the State Department.

During the meeting, Mr Whitaker besides the “message of condolence from the US government on the death of Olango”, also said they “are taking investigations into the matter seriously.”

Mr Whitaker, who has served before at the US Mission in Uganda between 1993 and 1994 under Ambassador Johnnie Carson, admitted that his country “is still torn by race relations” as evidenced by the recent spate of police shooting, and ugly confrontations with mainly black people which has heightened nationwide tensions, triggered debate on police brutality and international scorn.

Olango, a 38-year-old Ugandan born was shot dead last month by two officers in El Cajon, a city about 15 miles from San Diego, who were responding to a 911 call about a man endangering himself and motorists outside a strip mall in the San Diego, according to US media outlets.

About a minute after arriving on the scene, one officers fired an electric stun gun and another fired his service weapon several times, fatally striking Olango.

Eye witnesses interviewed insist that Olango was unarmed.

In this video grab courtesy of the El Cajon Police Department and obtained by AFP on September 28, 2016, a man said to be Alfred Olango raises his hands as members of the police department approach in El Cajon a suburb of San Diego, California.