The killing of Alfred Olango by police officers in the United States on Tuesday (September 27) has provoked shock and anger among relatives in the northern Ugandan village he left more than two decades ago.

The dead man's uncle, Simon Nyeko, was visibly upset as said his nephew had looked for a new life in the United States.

"I don't think that was right, he ran away from problems to safety and they treat him like that? He went there because he thought the world is one and everyone was equal but the way they treated him, I don't know whether it was because of his skin colour," Simon Nyeko said.

Olango, 38, was shot in El Cajon, California by two officers responding to a report of a mentally ill man.

Police said he pulled an unidentified object from his trouser pocket, but he was found to be unarmed.

Olango's mother, Pamela Benge, who lives in the United States, said on Thursday (September 29) her son was suffering a mental breakdown when confronted by police.