‘Two gunshot wounds to the chest’: 4 arrested over murder of elderly man

Police in Nkhata Bay have arrested four men in connection with the murder of an elderly man who was gunned down while sitting by the fire with his wife at home. Ackim Phiri, 66, Boston Kanyinji, 60, Sindani Kanyinji, 27, and Charles Kanyinji, 26, all of Chavula Village in Senior Chief Fukamapiri, have been detained over the killing of Emmanuel Kanyinji in the district. According to Nkhata Bay Police Deputy Spokesperson Devoter Mithi, the shocking incident took place on 8 August 2026, when the suspects allegedly shot the victim dead as he sat by the fire with his wife in an open kitchen at his home.

Police from Chintheche Police Post, together with a clinical officer from Chintheche Rural Hospital, attended the scene and found the victim dead with two gunshot wounds to the right side of his chest. ‘Following Police investigations, last night, the Police arrested the four suspects and recovered a muzzle-loading rifle believed to have been used in the murder of the man,’ Mithi said. A postmortem examination later confirmed that the victim died from severe blood loss caused by the trauma of the gunshot wounds.

Police have not yet disclosed a possible motive for the killing, nor detailed the relationship between the victim and the four suspects, despite the shared surname suggesting a possible family connection. The four men are expected to appear in court in due course to answer to the murder charge, as investigations into the circumstances surrounding the killing continue.