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REVEALED: Identities of police officers who shot dead woman at City Park


The identities of the police officers who shot dead a woman and injured her companion in a car at City Park can now be revealed.

A police report seen by the Nairobi News, indicates that Administration Police Constable, APC William Kipkorir Chirchir and Constable Godfrey Kipngehch Kirui discharged four and eleven rounds of ammunition respectively, from their AK47 rifles killing Janet Wangui Waiyaki and injuring Benard Chege.

According to the police report, the incident happened on Sunday morning, at 10am as the officers were conducting a foot patrol in the area.

It is not clear, however, why the two officers, attached to Makadara and Industrial Area respectively, were on duty in Parklands, an area within the jurisdiction of Parklands police station.

The report reads that the officers were alerted by a security guard by the name Eustance Mureithi, of the existence of a car that had been parked at the area for long hours.

“The guard alerted the officers that there was a suspicious motor vehicle parked within the park. The officers went and found a Toyota Fielder KBX 515 H parked in the forested area with all windows closed.

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“They knocked on the tinted windows but there was no response and all of a sudden, the motor vehicle sped off towards the road,” the report sent to the police headquarters by Parklands OCS Chief Inspector Moses Shikuku indicated.

The police report states that the vehicle was shot at by the two officers who had firearms of serial numbers 60034428 and 5901067 respectively.

“The vehicle then stopped and inside were a male and a female namely Bernard Chege, 26 years old and Janet Wangui Waiyaki aged 41 years old. They had gunshot wounds,” the report shows.

It states that the two were rushed to Avenue Hospital where the woman was pronounced dead, while the man was admitted. The vehicle was towed to the Parklands police Station.

After the incident, all the six officers who were involved in the operation, including those who did not shoot had their firearms withdrawn. The firearms have been taken for ballistic examinations.

INVESTIGATIONS

On Sunday, the family of the victim took to social media to plead for well-wishers to donate blood for him, saying he lost a lot of blood after the shooting.

After the shooting on Sunday, Nairobi County Police Commander, Joseph Ole Tito said that the car became suspicious after it had stayed at the thicket for too long.

“We are currently on high alert following reports of an impending Al Shabaab Attack during the Ramadhan period. These officers became overly reactive,” Mr Tito said, adding that the investigations into the incident had begun.

Kenyans on social media criticized the police officers for the shooting, asking IPOA to facilitate the arrest and prosecution of the officers involved.

“Kenyan policemen are trigger happy they are not trained to arrest. A professional policeman will let a criminal escape knowing tomorrow he will arrest him and the arrest will help arrest more criminals,” @rumuruti said on Twitter.

Another userm, @Vioanne posed; “Did the police identify themselves? Do the police know that a car can’t get far if the tyres are flat?? Are the police allowed to shoot car tyres , or just citizens??? Exactly whom did the police think they were/mistake them for?”