The family of one of the suspects filmed allegedly being executed by police in Nairobi's Pangani area, has broken its silence, demanding justice.
Speaking on Saturday, March 19, the family of one of the two suspects who were gunned down for allegedly involving in criminal activities, maintains that their kin was innocent and did not deserve to be fatally shot.
The family of the suspect dispelled reports by police, arguing that there was no shootout between their kin and the law enforcement officers. His sister maintained that the gunned down suspect was at his house on Thursday, March 17, until 9pm when he left to buy his pregnant wife juice. He boarded his motorbike with a friend and headed for the shopping centre.
"His wife called me asking if I had seen her husband. She told me that she had been calling him and he was not answering his phone. I then decided to go to Huruma area to look for him," the sister narrated.
His mother maintained that her son was innocent, blaming the police for killing him for no apparent reason.
"Police have just killed my son. If at all he was found guilty of any offense, it would have been better if they arrested him and let him be jailed for life," the emotional mother stated.
The family poked holes at the statement by the National Police Service (NPS) released on Friday, March 18, noting that the police did not reveal the identity of the woman who was allegedly robbed.
The family further noted that from the exhibit presented by the police, the second motorbike the law enforcers stated was at the crime scene was nowhere to be seen, neither did they produce the items that had been stolen from the lady.
"The government should take action against the police officers involved," his uncle insisted.
According to the postmortem examination, the suspect sustained 14 bullet injuries to his chest, eyes and other parts of the body.
Responding to the viral video of the suspects being executed, NPS noted that the suspects were fleeing the scene of crime.
"Police officers from Pangani Police Station responded swiftly to the robbery with violence incident and cornered the two suspects who were fleeing on a motorbike after a chase along Thika Super Highway.
"The suspects, who had robbed a woman at gunpoint in the Pangani area defied orders to surrender and instead, fired at police officers who promptly engaged them in self-defence. As a result, the two suspects were fatally shot," the statement read in part.
Following the incident, Independent Policing oversight Authority (IPOA) released a statement assuring the country that it had launched investigations into the incident.
This comes even as the country continues to battle the ever increasing cases of extra judicial killings. According to a report by HAKI Africa, in 2021 the country recorded 43 incidences of extra judicial killings and forced disappearances.
