Post date: Nov 07, 2010 4:4:38 PM
Kenyan provincial police officer shot 10 people dead at several bars in a small town northeast of Nairobi before surrendering, a police spokesman said on Sunday (November 07).
SIAKAGO, KENYA (NOVEMBER 7, 2010) CITIZEN TELEVISION - A Kenyan provincial police officer shot 10 people dead at several bars in a small town northeast of Nairobi before surrendering, a police spokesman said on Sunday (November 7).
Five men and three women were gunned down first at the New Coconut and Club Tha Shrek bars in the market town of Siakago and the two police officers were killed in the shooting spree on Saturday (November 6) night. The officer tried to shoot himself but had run out of ammunition, and later surrendered to police.
"He killed 10 people, he even killed 2 of his fellow policemen," said the father of Nyaga Mununga, a woman who was killed in the attack, "When he finished all of his ammunition he then took himself to the police station."
A local police officer said that Peter Karanja went on the rampage after he finished his shift as a guard at the District Commissioners' (DC) residence.
Police are investigating a number of leads, including one that Karanja had discovered he was infected with HIV and went in search of his girlfriend whom he suspected could have infected him with the virus.
Police are also looking into reports that Karanja was angry over news his lover was having an affair.
Angry relatives of the victims and some residents of Siakago held a brief demonstration on Sunday morning, demanding justice.
"I have just come from the morgue. I have seen 10 bodies lying there. In Siakago we don't have security, we do not want these police here," Beatrice Itai, a Siakago resident, said. "We have no security here. If a policeman can take a gun and goes and kills and says he has done his day's work ... how on earth is that possible? We want all the policemen transferred."
Siakago is a small town near Embu, 120 km (74 miles) northeast of Nairobi towards Mount Kenya. Embu serves as the headquarters of Kenya's Eastern Province.
Marcus Ocholla, the provincial police officer for the eastern province said the suspect in the shooting was known to have had a poor disciplinary record, but declined to give details.
The officer served in a branch of Kenya's police system that is attached to its provincial administration which has its own chain of command separate from the regular police system.