NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 3- A police officer was gunned down on Saturday night after killing a female colleague in a dramatic shooting at Kamukunji Police Station in Nairobi.
The Constable identified as Lawrence Ewoi, attached to the Quick Response Unit (QRU), is said to have picked up an argument with two officers outside the station before he opened fire indiscriminately using a G3 rifle.
A female officer, identified by police as Maurine Achieng suffered serious injuries during the 9.3pm incident and was pronounced dead at the Kenyatta National Hospital while another officer George Gitonga suffered an injury on the leg and is admitted to hospital.
While reports have suggested that the argument was related to a love triangle, others said it was work-related but there was no official confirmation on the exact cause of the tiff.
The Regional Police Headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the dramatic shooting that shattered the silence witnessed in the city throughout the New Year festivities.
“No one really knows exactly, it could be a love triangle or other issues,” one policeman said, “we will definitely know from the officer who is in hospital.”
Both are Constables, the junior-most title in the National Police Service and who form the majority of the officers on deployment.
The killer cop was then tracked down by a team of officers mobilised from the city’s Central Division with the help of detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations ((DCI).
“He posed danger to his colleagues since he was still armed,” a senior officer based at the station told Capital FM News.
The officer was eventually tracked down.
Police have claimed he died after shooting himself as officers tried to immobilise him after shooting him on the leg.
The officers sent to track him had reportedly shot him in the leg when he is said to have attempted to shoot at them before he eventually turned the gun on his head.
“He started firing at the officers who equally returned fire. On sensing danger, he shot himself and died instantly,” a police officer said, quoting a police report documented at the Kamukunji Police Station.
The G3 rifle was recovered loaded with 11 rounds of ammunition.
This is the latest incident of police officerS turning guns on colleagues, in a worrying trend blamed on psychosocial challenges and work-related stress.
