A Deputy Officer Commanding Police Station (OCS) was early Thursday morning killed in Nairobi during a firefight with fellow officers.
This is after he threatened to shoot bodaboda riders in Kawangware’s Coast area.
Riruta Deputy OCS Benson Indeje was felled after engaging the officers who were on patrol in a firefight after being challenged to surrender. According to a report filed at Muthangari Police Station, Indeje was armed with a Ceska pistol.
The incident took place at 2.45 am after the officer, who was drunk, had a commotion with the bodaboda riders at the stage as he threatened to shoot them. They alerted other police officers on patrol who challenged him to surrender but he instead shot at them seven times injuring one officer on the shoulder.
The officers fired back and on examination, it was established that he was a police officer. He was rushed to Nairobi Women’s Adams Acarde Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The injured officer is undergoing treatment at the same facility while Indeje’s body was moved to Chiromo Mortuary awaiting autoposy.
Misuse of police firearms is rampant
Instances of police officers misusing their firearms and harassing members of the public have been on the rise in recent years. Similarly, there has been a spike in the number of police officers turning the gun on each other.
On Wednesday, there were protests in Nyeri after a police officer clobbered a matatu driver injuring his skull. Residents said they are being forced to stay indoors from as early as 9pm yet no curfew is in force.
Early last month, a General Service Unit (GSU) office Constable Samson Morongo was arrested after it emerged he killed his colleague at Wilson Airport and then falsified the report to indicate they were attacked by unknown people.
In Kakamega, a police officer was shot dead by his colleague in Kakamega Police station. The 24-year-old officer was killed within his residence in the station where he was found lying down in a pool of blood, while clutching on his AK47 rifle which was loaded with 29 rounds of ammunition.
In May, there was drama when an OCS and a Divisional Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO) brandished guns in a Bomet bar after a disagreement.
Bomet County Police Commander Naomi Ichami , who confirmed the incident, however, claimed that only one drunk officer was armed and the other was just trying to disarm him.
At around the same time, a junior police officer was arraigned in court after he allegedly shot and killed his senior in Maralal, Samburu County, after he was reportedly transferred him from a construction site he had been manning. The Administration Police officer stormed into their camp and opened fire killing his boss instantly.
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