Police in Masimba on Thursday said four people were killed by GSU officers in Masimba, Kajiado county, during a demonstration.
Masimba OCS Philip Chepkwony said the four were among 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 who suffered bullet wounds,” he said.
The demonstrators had blocked the Nairobi-Mombasa highway to protest what they termed inaction by KWS.
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 opened fire to disperse the crowd.
Multiple eyewitnesses said three of the demonstrators died on the spot after GSU officers opened fire on them. The fourth victim died while he was being taken to Makindu hospital in Makueni.
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 where the demonstration was taking place.
He said he was depending on feedback from the ground and would update the Star on any new developments. By press time, Mwongera had not given further updates.
Residents of Masimba praised the local police for not interfering with the peaceful demonstrators until a GSU truck full of officers headed in Mombasa’s direction arrived.
“There was no problem at all. We saw the local police officers patrolling the town as women demonstrated against KWS inaction after a primary school teacher was killed by an elephant last week,” Jacob Siamantet said.
He said when the GSU officers arrived, they all alighted and started removing stones from the highway before he heard several bullets being fired.
“As soon as they left and everyone had taken cover, we counted three bodies and eight injured people. We helped the injured to a waiting van. On our way to Makindu, one other person died,” Siamantet said.
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.
Edited by A.N
