•The group of women had staged a demo to express their anger following the death of a teacher who was reportedly killed by an elephant.
•They were heading to the KWS offices when they opted to block the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
Image: KURGAT MARINDANY
A demonstration organized by a group of women calling for action over human, and wildlife conflict turned tragic after four people died in Masimba, Kajiado county.
The group of women had staged a demo to express their anger following the death of a teacher who was reportedly killed by an elephant.
They were heading to the KWS offices when they opted to block the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
In the melee, GSU officers heading to Mombasa in a truck tried to intervene and calm the situation but things went out of control.
Members of the public are said to have joined the demonstration and started hurling stones at the GSU officers who opted to open fire to disperse the crowd.
It is during the push and pulls that three people were shot.
Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed that three of the demonstrators died on the spot after the GSU officers opened fire on them, while the fourth victim died while he was being rushed to Makindu hospital in Makueni.
Image: KURGAT MARINDANY
Seven people are said to have also been injured in the incident.
Masimba OCS Philip Chepkwony said the four were among the women demonstrating against the killing of a teacher by an elephant in the area last week.
“Let us just say four died as of now, but I am on my way to Makindu hospital to check on the condition of the seven were suffered bullet wounds,” said Chepkwony.
Earlier, before the number of those killed was confirmed, Kajiado county police commander Muthuri Mwongera said the demonstrators were peaceful until some “thugs” joined the women and started pelting the police with stones.
At the time, he said, two civilians were found dead in the area when the demonstration was going on.
He said he is depending on feedback from the ground and would update the Star on any new developments.
Residents of Masimba praised the local police for not interfering with the peaceful demonstrators until a GSU truck full of policemen headed in the Mombasa direction arrived.
“There was no problem at all. We saw the local police officers patrolling the town as the women demonstrated against KWS inaction after a primary school teacher was killed by an elephant last week,” said Jacob Siamantet.
Siamantet said when the GSU officers arrived, they all alighted and started removing stones on the highway before he heard several bullets being fired.
“As soon as they left and everyone had taken cover, we counted 3 three bodies and eight injured people. We helped the injured to a waiting van. On our way to Makindu, one other person died,” said Siamantet.
He said among the injured, four were shot in the stomach, two were shot in the legs and the seventh had a gashing bullet wound in the head near the eye.
At the time of filing this report, Mwongela had not updated us on any new development.