| William Unek | |
| Death Date: | 20 February |
| Birth Place: | Protectorate of Uganda |
| Death Cause: | Severe burns from a smoke bomb thrown by police |
| Occupation: | Constable |
| Beginyear: | 1954 |
| Endyear: | 1957 |
| Victims: |
|
| Weapons: | Axe Knife Lee-Enfield Rifle |
| Country: | Belgian Congo Tanganyika Territory |
| Targets: | Random strangers |
| Other Names: | William Uneko |
| Death Place: | Mwanza, Tanganyika Territory |
William Unek (– 20 February 1957) was a Ugandan police constable and serial mass murderer who killed a total of 57 people in two separate spree killings three years apart.
Unek, a Ugandan national and one of the Acholi people,[1] [2] committed his first murder spree near Mahagi, Belgian Congo in 1954, where he killed 21 people with an axe within an hour and a half, before escaping and finally ending up in the Tanganyika Territory.[3] [4] The motive was never ascertained.
Apparently because of unspecified social misunderstandings with his boss,[5] Unek went on a second rampage which began in the early hours of 11 February 1957. Armed with a stolen police rifle, 50 rounds of ammunition, and an axe, he started killing people in the area of Malampaka, a village about southeast of Mwanza.
Within twelve hours, Unek shot dead ten men, eight women, and eight children, murdered five more men with the axe, stabbed another one, burned two women and a child, and strangled a 15-year-old girl, thus killing a total of 36 people.[6] [7] [8] He then changed out of his police uniform into clothes stolen from one of his victims and fled. Among the dead was reportedly his wife, whom he killed in their hut before setting it on fire,[9] as well as the wife of a police sergeant.[10]
For nine days, Unek was sought by Wasukuma tribesmen, police, and eventually a company of the King's African Rifles in Tanganyika's greatest manhunt up to that time.[6] [11]
Despite the extensive search operation, including dogs and aircraft,[12] and a posted reward of $350,[13] Unek eluded his pursuers until he finally showed up at the house of Iyumbu ben Ikumbu, who lived only away from Malampaka, in search of food. When Iyumbu reported the incident to the police, he was asked to keep Unek with him and notify them, should the killer come again to his home. Unek, still armed, reappeared at about 1:00 a.m. the next day. Iyumbu, sending his wife to the police, gave Unek food and engaged in a conversation with him for nearly two hours until help arrived. At that point, Iyumbu ran out of his house whereupon a police superintendent threw a smoke bomb, setting the house on fire. Unek, severely injured when attempting to evade capture, later succumbed to his wounds in Mwanza Hospital,[7] [14] [15] dying on 20 February. Iyumbu later received a financial reward of £125,[16] as well as the British Empire Medal for his bravery leading to the capture of the constable.[17] [18]
As response to the murders, a fund was created to help the descendants of those killed[19] and a maternity clinic was built as a memorial for Unek's victims.[20]
His rampage ranks among the deadliest of the twentieth century.[21] At the time, his 1957 rampage was the deadliest mass shooting in recorded history until the 1982 Woo Bum-kon incident.