Ugandan footballer David Owori killed defending his phone in Kampala robbery

David Owori's last act was trying to keep his phone. The Sports Club Villa captain and Ugandan national team player died in hospital after resisting robbers armed with paving stones during a Tuesday night attack in Kampala.

He was jumped while out in the capital. Robbers wanted his phone and whatever else they could grab. Owori pushed back. Most people would've just handed it over. He didn't.

The injuries were bad enough that he couldn't make it. Hospital staff couldn't save him. By Wednesday morning, Uganda's football world was dealing with the loss of one of their own.

Villa's locker room is reeling. Owori wasn't just another player — he wore the armband for his club and had represented his country. The kind of guy teammates relied on, both on the pitch and off it. Now there's an empty space in the lineup and in the squad.

Kampala's robbery problem keeps claiming lives. A footballer with international caps, reduced to another statistic in a city where street crime stays brutal and unpredictable. It's the kind of senseless violence that hits harder when the victim's face is one your kids recognize.

The national federation and Villa are still processing. No statement yet on what comes next for the club or whether there'll be any investigation into the attackers. For now, it's just grief and the uncomfortable reality that being famous, being fit, being young — none of that matters when you're cornered by people with stones and nothing to lose.