At least six people were shot dead by a police officer in Nairobi, Kenya, before shooting himself, Kenyan police said Tuesday.
Police officer shoots dead six people, wounds two, then kills himself
“We have lost six people who were shot by the police officer before he killed himself,” said area police chief Francis Wahome.
Two others were injured in the rampage and have been admitted to hospital.
The incident sparked protests as mourners demanded compensation for the victims’ families.
The protests turned into riots and a mob burned tires and blocked a major highway before police were able to disperse the angry residents.
What we know about the shooting
Kenyan authorities said the “rogue officer” first shot his wife with an AK-47 rifle and then went on to indiscriminately shoot his neighbors in a low-income area in Kenya’s capital.
The incident occurred at around 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT) in a market in Kabete (Kiambu County), a town bordering the Kenyan capital.
Three of the dead were citizens who had traveled to Kabete to participate in a funeral of a relative, while two others were motorcycle cab drivers working in the area.
Other officers responded to the scene of the attack after several residents called authorities describing heavy gunfire and a possible fire.
According to the DCI, a department of the Kenya Police in charge of complex cases, authorities have already recovered the attacker’s firearm – a Kalashnikov (AK-47) assault rifle – and have begun investigations into “this sad incident.”
The police chief of the Dagoretti district police station (near Kabete), Francis Wahome, who confirmed the incident to local media, said that the authorities still “do not know the motive” for the incident.
