Police shoot mate and cousins dead in Dagoretti
What you need to know:
- An AP officer who was in the bar at the time told the Nation that his colleague was shot despite identifying himself as an officer.
- The incident has caused tension between regular and AP officers in Dagoretti.
Police on Tuesday shot dead three people, one of them a colleague they mistook for an armed robber.
The Administration Police officer and his two cousins were shot outside the M-Club and Bar in Nairobi’s Dagoretti, where they were buying airtime for their mobile phones.
Corporal Joseph Obong’o Makori was shot in the head after a barmaid alerted police when she noticed his official Ceska pistol.
An AP officer who was in the bar at the time told the Nation that his colleague was shot despite identifying himself as an officer.
RAISED HIS HANDS
“The police officers ordered everyone to raise their hands and get out of the bar. Corporal Makori raised his hands and told them he was an AP and was from the airport after escorting Bomachoge MP Joel Onyancha, who was travelling to The Hague.
“The officers searched him and when they found his Ceska pistol, one of them took it and shot him in the head with it.
“The other policeman used his own gun to shoot Makori’s companions,” the AP officer said.
Nairobi AP Commander Francis Mburu said he had received a report.
“I have unconfirmed reports that the officer and his two companions were shot dead outside the bar. They did not resist or try to shoot at the other officers,” he said.
CAUSED TENSION
The incident has caused tension between regular and AP officers in Dagoretti.
Dagoretti police boss Rashid Mohammed, however, claimed the three were gangsters and were shot trying to rob a bar patron.
He said two other members of the gang fled on foot.
“The man alleged to have been an AP officer was not in uniform. Ballistic experts are examining his firearm to ascertain whether it belongs to the National Police Service,” Mr Mohammed said, adding the pistol had 11 bullets.
On Monday night, two other people were gunned down by police in Mowlem, Nairobi.
The two, according to police, were part of a gang attacking and robbing motorists and pedestrians at a railway crossing in the area. A third suspect escaped with gunshot wounds.
