NAIROBI, Kenya Dec 7 – A policeman shot his wife and five other people dead in Nairobi on Monday before he committed suicide, authorities said in an incident that sparked protests.
The officer, identified as Benson Imbatu based in Kabete, is reported to have first shot his wife in the neck at their house in Heights Apartments before he opened fire using an AK47 rifle on people who rushed to help.
Police said those shot include two boda boda riders.
Kabete Police chief Francis Wahome said an investigation had been launched into the incident.
Wahome said preliminary investigations had shown that the couple had quarreled before the man picked up the gun and shot his wife Carol Imbatu.
Some of the victims succumbed to gun injuries in hospital.
“It is unfortunate that we have lost lives. We are investigating the incident to establish what happened,” Wahome said.
Locals in Kabete held demonstrations, blocking roads for several hours Tuesday in protest of the police action before they were dispersed.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, two other people sustained injuries during the shooting and are admitted to hospital.
“In the sad incident that occurred today at 3am, the cop gone rogue who was wielding an AK-47 assault riffle, also killed three young men and a boda boda rider at N market within Kabete. The three men whose identities are yet to be established, were mourners who had just attended a funeral preparations meeting for one of their beloved at mountain view, before they were accosted by the rogue officer,” the DCI tweeted.
After killing the three, the DCI said, the cop then turned his rifle at two boda boda riders, one of whom lost his life while undergoing treatment at the Kenyatta national hospital.
“The boda boda rider had woken up early to first deliver loaves of bread at different shops which was his side hustle, before embarking on his daily routine of ferrying passengers,” the DCI said, quoting a security manager of Makini Security Services, Purity Cheruiyot who recounted how she received a call from one of her security guards at J heights apartments about the incident at 3am.
“I was called by one of my juniors deployed at the apartments, who told me that there was a loud bang coming from one of the houses followed by a huge fire,” said Purity. The security manager who immediately alerted police officers based at Kabete police station, also rushed to the scene where the lifeless body of a woman only identified as Carol was found.”
Together with her colleagues, Cheruiyot rushed the two injured boda boda riders to Eagle hospital in Kangemi, where they received first aid, before they were later transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital for specialized treatment.
Police said they recovered the firearm used by the officer in the killings.
