Police in Eldoret on the spot after 3 tailors say night patrol officers shot and injured them

Three people are nursing gunshot wounds in Eldoret Town after they were allegedly shot by police on patrol.

The three men, who are tailors, are recuperating in an Eldoret hospital.

They told the Nation that they were in their shop on Tuesday night when the incident happened.

“We had a lot of work from our clients ahead of the festive season, forcing us to operate until late. At around 3am we decided to take a break and have a bite and returned back to the shop,” said Mr Lucas Otieno, 40, one of the tailors.

“After 15 minutes someone banged the gate heavily demanding it be opened.

"I asked my colleagues to accompany me to find out who it was since we were not sure whether they were thieves or not,” he explained.

On reaching the entrance the police officers reportedly started shooting at the gate.

SCREAMED OUT LOUDLY

“A bullet went through my left palm as I tried to open the gate and my colleague who was trying to take cover was hit on the left rib,” Mr Otieno continued.

The three screamed out loudly at the police explaining that they were just working overtime.

“The uniformed police officers ordered us to open the gate claiming that they were pursuing robbers who had run away. Our pleas that we were innocent fell on deaf ears,” said Felix Omondi, 24, who was shot in the rib.

The tailors said that on realising that they were innocent, the officers collected the used cartridges before taking their victims to a private hospital for treatment and ordered them not to report the incident to the media.

Two of the tailors have since been discharged from the hospital while one is still admitted.

“We are demanding that the officers involved in the shooting be brought to book for misusing firearms by shooting innocent civilians,” said Otieno.

Eldoret West police boss Samuel Mutunga said investigations have already been launched to ascertain the claims.