Residents protest after police shoot deaf boy dead
Youths in Dandora protested after a teenage boy was shot dead by police on April 20, 2017. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Nairobi County Police Commander, Japhet Koome, said the boy was involved in crime before the shooting.
- They denied Mr Koome’s report that police recovered a pistol from the boy.
- Youths in the area claim the boy was shot while rummaging through trash on a garbage truck.
Chaos erupted in Dandora on Thursday morning after a police officer shot dead a deaf boy who was rummaging through garbage in a lorry.
Youths hurled stones at police officers as they tried to take the body of the 16-year-old boy.
They claimed he was shot in the chest and back at around 7am at the sprawling Dandora dumpsite.
“A police officer from Kinyago Police Station just came and started shouting at him as the other boys looked. He did not respond and immediately, the police shot him twice and he fell on the garbage,” James Wanjiru, a witness, said.
Nairobi County Police Commander Japhet Koome said the boy was one of two suspects who had robbed a woman of her purse before escaping into the dumpsite.
“They confronted a woman and robbed her of some items while armed with knives and a pistol. Police who were nearby responded but the boys ran away into the dumpsite and the police followed them and one of them who had a pistol was fatally injured,” he said.
'DUMPSITE GANG'
He claimed that after the shooting, a gang based at the dumpsite took his body and hid it to prevent police from taking it.
“That is when the confrontation ensued and the police had to disperse the youths and finally took the body to the mortuary,” Mr Koome said.
Youths in the area claimed the boy was shot while on a garbage truck, adding that he had a sack he intended to use to keep his scavenged items.
They rejected Mr Koome’s report that police found a pistol on the boy after the shooting.
“We want an explanation to this. We want the whole world to see how the youths in Dandora are being killed by police in the name of killing criminals. What crime did a 16-year-old, deaf and unarmed boy commit?” Wanjiru said.
