The Kenya National Human Rights Commission has termed Wednesday’s shooting of three suspected gangsters at Changamwe, Mombasa by officers from
as an extra-judicial killings.
While condemning the shooting during a press conference on Thursday, the Commission’s chair Kagwiria Mbogori said the KHRC has evidence that showing that the three suspects had surrendered when police trailed them following a foiled robbery at Shell petrol station in Changamwe yet the police still went on to shoot them at close range.
“We have learned through eye witness reports in the media that the trio were gunned down at the Shell petrol station in Changamwe after they had obeyed an order by the police to surrender and lie flat on the ground. The police then proceeded to spray them with bullets as they lay prostrate and disarmed,” Mbogori said.
Mbogori further demanded that the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
She further said that the police must provide evidence to their allegations that the three suspects may have been responsible for a spate of shooting in Mombasa in Mombasa including that of two tourists.
“In the recent past there have been other reports of similar unfortunate incidents. A case is reported in Nairobi where a tout is said to have met his death after violently being yanked out of a moving vehicle by a police officer after allegedly refusing to part with a Sh50 bribe. In another case in Naivasha it is reported that one person was shot by police who opened fire on the Karagita area...” Mbogori said
“The Commission calls upon the police to stop substituting extra-judicial killings for sound and professional investigations into crime,” she added
They suspects were gunned down a few metres from where Mombasa tycoon Shahid Butt was killed early this month.