Family wants justice after son, 20, shot dead by police officer

A family in Murang'a County is crying for justice after one of their kin was shot dead by a police officer under unclear circumstances.

Mr John Irungu, 20,  was shot dead on Monday evening.

According to his father Wilson Irungu, the death of his last born has left the family perturbed.

“My son called me in the morning on his way to Kigumo and said he wanted to talk to me in the evening when he comes back. Now I will never know what he wanted to say," said the distraught father at Kigumo police station. 

Speaking to the media yesterday, he said he was called by one of his daughters who had been called by the police using the deceased’s number saying he had been involved in an accident.

Mr Irungu, a stage manager in Murang'a Town, then called his son several times but his calls went unanswered.

He called several matatu drivers and managers operating along Kigumo route, but he was told there was no accident along that road.

Mr Irungu was then called by an officer using his son’s phone who informed him that John had been shot by a policeman who later escaped.

The distraught father said his son was a well-known bread hawker who operated from Murang’a to Kigumo and regularly sold bread at Kigumo police station and the Administration Police lines.

The family called for thorough investigations and demanded justice for their son who was shot on the right side of his abdomen and died as he was being taken to hospital.

According to the police, a Kigumo-based AP officer shot dead the hawker after “an accidental discharge of a bullet from the cop's AK47 gun” while he was on guard.

Kigumo OCPD Ibrahim Mchumwa said the 3pm incident happened inside the AP line at Kigumo Town and detectives had taken over the matter to establish whether there could have been other reasons behind the killing of the man.

He however noted the AP officer who escaped to Nairobi presented himself at Buru Buru police station and investigations are ongoing.

The officer will be charged before a Murang'a court.

The victim’s body is at the Murang’a county mortuary awaiting a postmortem.