Four people killed by police officers in Nakuru on Friday morning on suspicion of being members of a criminal gang have been identified.
Collins Kibet Kirui, Collins Kipkorir, Kevin Kipyegon and Denis Kipchirchir were gunned down in Barut, Nakuru West sub-county during a security operation.
Nakuru Police Commander Peter Mwanzo confirmed that the suspects were gunned down by the police who were on a night patrol.
"The police were on patrol in that area at around 1 am when they started shooting after identifying a member of the gang walking around," Mwanzo said.
The police boss said the officers were responding to a tip-off from residents, who reported that some young people were attacking unsuspecting passers-by with arrows.
The reports have been dismissed by neighbours, who said that Kibet, Kipkorir and Kipyegon were picked up from their houses and brought to Kipchirchir’s house, where they were killed together.
They denied reports that there was an exchange of fire and that the four were found with a gun saying the boys were innocent and should have been arrested instead of being killed.
Kibet and Kipkorir, they said, were killed inside the house while Kipyegon and Kipchirchir were brought outside before the officers pulled the trigger on them in the same compound.
Their bodies were then taken to a nearby road, they claim.
"We do not oppose security agents conducting their patrols at night, because it is for our own good as residents, but the young souls that were killed were innocent. They could have arrested them and let the law take its course instead of killing them," said a neighbour.
Mr David Kuria, a human rights defender based in Nakuru County, has urged the Inspector-General of police to conduct a thorough probe into the murders.
He said it was unfortunate that the young people lost their lives in a gruesome manner adding that the four were picked up from their houses by officers who knew the people they were looking for.
'The matter should be investigated further," he said.
