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Police are investigating an incident where a student was shot and injured by a stray bullet after violence broke out during a public event hosted by Gatundu North MP Elijah Kururia in Kiambu county on Tuesday evening.
The incident occurred at the former St Francis Primary School grounds in Mang’u location, where Kururia, accompanied by Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a, had presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Mang’u Polytechnic and the proposed Gatukuyu police station.
The two MPs are yet to comment on the matter. According to police, the planned police station will be built adjacent to a petrol station in Gatukuyu, with the exact acreage to be determined later.
The leaders also distributed blankets to senior citizens aged 80 years and above during the event, which attracted an estimated 2,000 people.
Police said chaos erupted during the distribution of foodstuffs and cash after one of the distributors allegedly pushed a man using crutches and struck a young man with a jembe handle.
The incident angered a section of youths, who attempted to attack the distributor.
The distributor was rescued and locked inside a white lorry, but the crowd became increasingly hostile and began pelting stones from all directions.
Police attempted to restore order, but the situation escalated, prompting police to fire warning shots into the air to disperse the rowdy crowd.
During the commotion, a student from St Francis Girls High School, Mang’u was struck by a stray bullet in the right leg, just below the knee.
She was rushed to Avenue Hospital in Thika, where she was reported to be in stable condition.
An X-ray revealed that the bullet was lodged in a muscle, and doctors recommended an emergency operation to remove it.
Police have launched investigations into the incident. A team visited the scene on Wednesday as part of the probe. The student was still admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, police in Garissa seized 60 bags of suspected contraband brown sugar believed to have been smuggled into Kenya from Somalia and arrested a 24-year-old suspect.
The seizure was made Wednesday during a routine patrol along Kismayu Road in the Al Shamsi area, According to police, officers intercepted a white Toyota Succeed.
A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 60 bags of M-Mokis brown sugar, each weighing 25 kilograms, which officers suspect had been illegally smuggled into the country from Somalia.
The vehicle, the suspected contraband goods and the suspect were escorted to Garissa police station, where they were detained pending further investigations.
Police said a multi-agency team has taken over the matter as investigations continue to establish the source and intended destination of the consignment, as well as whether more suspects were involved in the suspected cross-border smuggling operation.
