Man shot in the face after attacking police with axe
A police officer from Chogoria Police Station holds bhang weeds uprooted from a farm belonging to a man at Gitumbi, Tharaka-Nithi County, on October 13, 2016. The 21-year old man was shot in the face after he attacked police with an axe during his arrest. PHOTO | ALEX NJERU |NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The man was being arrested for threatening to kill his parents when he attacked the police with an axe.
- Police say he will be arraigned when he recovers.
A man is recuperating at Chuka County Referral Hospital after he was shot in the face by police in a struggle with officers during which he allegedly attacked one with an axe.
Moris Mawira, 21, of Gitumbi Village in Maara Sub-County was being arrested for threatening to kill his parents because they did not change the ownership of the family land to his name.
According to Maara OCPD John Njihia, the police shot in the air two times to scare Mr Mawira, who was running after one of the officers, but when he declined to stop, his colleague shot at him and a bullet him at the mouth.
Mr Mawira was rushed to the hospital, where he receiving treatment.
Police seized bhang in a cooking pot from his house. They also uprooted bhang from a piece of land belonging to him.
Fredrick Mugambi, the father of the young man, said his son had been threatening to kill him and his wife for failing to surrender the whole land to him and change the title deed into his name.
“Whenever he was high on something, he would call himself Al-Shabaab and run after us with an axe,” said Mr Mugambi.
He said that although he has already given him a section of the land, the son insists that he should be given all of it.
A neighbour, Jane Karimi, said the man is a threat to the family and other locals because he always threatens to kill them.
Police say he will be arraigned when he recovers.
