Officer shot my son five times, says former MP

The man who shot dead a son of a former Gatundu North MP will be charged with murder on Monday, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe has said.

The police inspector, who joined the Force recently, had an argument with 29-year-old James Ng’ang’a as the two were drinking beer in Westlands on Saturday morning. Mr Ng’ang’s was the son of Mr Patrick Muiruri.

Inspector followed

According to Mr Kiraithe, the argument between the two degenerated into a quarrel until they were kicked out of the bar. It was then that the police inspector Mr Kiraithe declined to name, followed Mr Ng’ang’a.

The police spokesman declined to say at what point Mr Ng’ang’a was shot, but a witness had previously said Mr Ng’ang’a was driven away by a friend in his car, but the inspector followed them then overtook and blocked the road.

Mr Ng’ang’a got out of his car before the two started to argue again. It was at this point that the policeman pulled the trigger. Mr Kiraithe said the inspector shot Mr Ng’ang’a once, but his father Mr Muiruri, who served in the Police Force before becoming an MP, said that his son was shot five times.

“He was shot twice in the shoulder, then the third bullet tore through his chest into the heart,” said the former assistant minister for Agriculture, who went to see his son at the MP Shah Hospital immediately after the shooting.

He said the assailant shot his son twice in the mouth after he fell down. Mr Kiraithe could not confirm the former MP’s claims saying the truth will be known after a post-mortem test.

“This is a High Court case and I don’t want to be prejudicial. Let’s wait for the post-mortem,” the police spokesman who spoke by telephone, said.

Nevertheless, he faulted the inspector saying: “He joined the force recently and was just excited about having a gun.” He added that he used the gun unlawfully.

Incidents of police officers turning against their opponents and shooting them dead are not new. Such cases usually end in court. And in some incidents, the policemen commit suicide after committing murder using their official guns.

If the inspector had reason for using the gun, Mr Kiraithe said, the matter would have been settled internally. “But we must take him to court because he could not justify why he used the weapon,” he said.

Sources told the Nation that the young inspector went to report the incident at Buru Buru Police Station instead of Parklands Police Station, which is nearer to the scene of shooting. And he reportedly said he had shot a bank robber.

But police at Buru Buru, the source said, later locked up the inspector after their colleagues at Parklands explained the circumstances under which the incident happened.

Mr Kiraithe declined to say where the inspector was being held. Mr Ng’ang’a, his father said, had just finished a PhD course in International Law at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.

On Sunday, Mr Muiruri was devastated by the death of his second-born son. The former MP said: “He was my life and my everything.” He claimed there were other people who had accompanied the University inspector and wondered why they had not been arrested.

Mr Muiruri was among the first people at the MP Shah Hospital after the incident. His last born son is the one who called him on Saturday morning to break the sad news to him.