A 22-year-old man was on Tuesday shot and killed by police after he attacked a senior police officer who tried to stop him from hacking his 68-year-old mother at their home in Chekata, Kakamega.
Police said the man’s elder brother reported to Navakholo police station that the now deceased Ian Wanjala had armed himself with a machete, a knife and a hoe and was threatening to kill their mother.
This prompted the officer commanding the station to lead a team of officers to the scene of the distress call.
According to police, on arrival, the team found the suspect armed and pursuing the mother.
Police said they intervened to calm the suspect but he instead turned against the commander, aiming to cut him on the head with the hoe.
According to the police, the officer evaded and blocked using his right hand, which saw him sustain two broken fingers.
He also slid and fell as he tried to flee from the danger of the attack.
That was the point he reached his pistol and opened fire as the suspect allegedly pursued him, police said.
The officer fired a warning round in the air, police said.
The suspect, however, according to police kept pursuing the officer and in the process, he shot him in the chest.
Both the suspect and the OCS were rushed to the Navakholo Subcounty Hospital where the latter was declared dead on arrival.
The OCS was given first aid treatment and referred to Kakamega County General Referral Hospital while the deceased's body was moved to the facility’s mortuary to await post-mortem, police said.
A team of police officers from Kakamega is investigating the incident, police said.
