The Director of Public Prosecutions, Renson Igonga, has preferred murder charges against Police Constable Klinzy Masinde Baraza for the shooting of Boniface Mwangi Kariuki on June 17, 2025, during protests in Nairobi CBD.
The DPP announced that following the completion of investigations and piecing together of evidence, Baraza will now be charged with the murder of the mask vendor, who is set to be laid to rest this week.
However, his co-accused, Duncan Kiprono, with whom he was pictured during the shocking incident that was captured on camera, has been set free.
Videos of the shooting, analysed by Kenyans.co.ke, showed a police officer believed to be Baraza charging toward a group of demonstrators on Mondlane Street near Imenti House before firing the first shot.
Kariuki was seen falling to the ground before a second officer struck him with the butt of his firearm. Moments later, the first officer aimed his gun at the vendor and shot him in the head at close range.
The footage showed Kariuki lying on the ground, bleeding, as panicked protesters rushed to his aid. He was taken to Bliss Medical Center, where he received emergency first aid as they awaited an ambulance.
He was later transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, where attempts to save his life did not yield any results.
Kariuki, who had been in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at KNH, later passed away at 3:15pm on Monday, June 30, almost two weeks after the shooting.
His shooting elicited a public uproar from human rights defenders and the public in general, not only because he was unarmed, but also because the protest aimed to call out the very police brutality that ended his life.
Baraza and his now freed co–accused were arrested shortly after the shooting, and on June 19, they were arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts, where the judge granted the prosecution and the defence's wish to hold them for 15 days to allow for further investigations by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
The two officers were based at Nairobi's Kileleshwa Police Station, where they were deployed during the ugly scenes witnessed during the incident.
Meanwhile, Kariuki is set to be laid to rest at his rural home in Kangema, Murang'a County, following a requiem mass held at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi on Wednesday.
