The families of 5 teenagers from Nakuru County on Sunday came out to protest against the shooting of their kin by alleged Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers during an incident which occurred in Barut on Saturday evening.
Speaking to journalists, the young men's mothers pointed fingers at KWS officers whom they accused of tracking down the boys to a church where they were going about their activities.
It was revealed that the officers targeted the boys over alleged illegal fishing activities in Lake Nakuru.
Defending their sons aged 15, and 17, two mothers reiterated that their children had nothing to do with the alleged fishing maintaining that the boys had been engaged in church and at no point did they conduct fishing activity at the water body as claimed by the officers.
While recounting the incident, a mother to the fifteen-year-old child elaborated that her son who was seated outside the church was shot. She further stated that the young man is undergoing surgery at the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital as doctors work towards saving his life.
On the other hand, a mother to a seventeen-year-old relayed that her son was shot in the leg and was in critical condition as well.
“My son is seventeen years old and yesterday around 6:30 P.M., KWS officers came and shot at them while in church, they fired live bullets which forced the boys out of the church,” she narrated.
“When I walked towards the area, there were three law enforcement vehicles with officers firing live bullets, I had to hide to evade the fire,” she added.
Locals revealed that the push and pull of fishing activities result from fish being driven to the shores near their homes due to rising water levels around Lake Nakuru.
Further, the residents alleged that KWS officers had developed a habit of harrasing them unprovoked.
One of the residents claimed that their efforts to have the officers reprimanded had proved futile as the officers were ostensibly operating recklessly.
“They also harass police officers, on certain occasions, they have forced police to sit and they handcuff them, the police are placed in the same cells as civilians,” the residents claimed.
However, at the time of going press, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was yet to issue a statement on the incident.
