Two shot as police disperse fuel thieves

Two people sustained gunshot injuries on Wednesday when police moved in to disperse a crowd scooping fuel at an accident scene involving a fuel tanker.

Police had a tough time trying to disperse the crowd which at one time pelted them with stones at Buoye in Kisumu.

Police were forced to fire several shots, which are believed to have caused the injuries.

Saved lives

According to an eyewitness, one of those shot was a woman who had gone to collect her son.

“The woman was not even scooping the fuel but had come for her son who was collecting fuel,” he said.

The residents accused police of using excessive force but the officers said they had saved lives that could have been lost had there been an explosion.

Sources from the Kenya Red Cross emergency team who rushed to the scene to help the injured people, confirmed that two women had been taken to the Nyanza provincial hospital with bullet wounds.

Kisumu East deputy police boss Muthuri Mwongera declined to comment on the matter, saying he would make a statement after the scene was safe.

Attempts to reach him thereafter were futile and his phone was off.

Another eyewitness said the driver lost control of the tanker as he tried to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

The tanker then rolled as it swerved and fell on the road.

The driver sustained injuries on the neck.

Traffic along the Kisumu-Nairobi highway stalled for over three hours with vehicles forming a line for about 20 metres from the scene as firefighters and police battled to clear the road.

The truck is reported to have been transporting 31,000 litres of super petrol to Kampala.