Residents of Kikima in Mbooni, Makueni County were startled awake on Saturday morning by the sound of gunfire, as police officers found themselves embroiled in a conflict.
Charles Ronoh, the sub-county police commander of Mbooni West, verified that a shooting had occurred within the Mbooni West police camp.
The altercation involved two officers who had recently been transferred to the Mbooni West sub-county headquarters. According to Ronoh, the confrontation erupted between them around 6:15 am, during their reporting for duty with the Administration Police Service.
“At around 6:15 to 6:30, some officers from the Administration Police Service were reporting on duty. I do not know whether they disagreed because we just heard a loud bang,” Ronoh recounted.
Ronoh, upon hearing the gunshots from his residence, rushed to the scene only to discover that one of the officers had been fatally shot.
“On trying to talk to him, it was realized that the officer was bleeding on the left side of the ribs. On further examination, it was discovered that he had been shot by use of a firearm and he was dead,” a segment of police report OB 05/30/03/2024 stated.
The accused, APC Anthony Mariapei, surrendered himself to the authorities and admitted to using his G3 rifle to fatally shoot his colleague, APC Hassan Ahmed.
Mariapei, who had just completed his night shift, was supposed to hand over his duties to the deceased, who was scheduled for the day shift.
“After some minutes, we received information from Mbooni Police Station that the officer who had shot the deceased had surrendered there.”
As investigations into the shooting incident commence, the murder suspect remains in custody.
Both G3 rifles, with serial numbers A3 J54127 and A3 J54444, issued to the accused and deceased officers respectively, have been seized as evidence pending ballistic examinations.
Meanwhile, the body of the deceased has been transferred to the Mbooni Sub-County Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
