A third-year student at Maseno University was on Monday, March 20, killed during Azimio la Umoja One Kenya protests.
According to preliminary reports, the student was shot in the neck after protesters invaded Maseno Police Line in Kisumu. He was rushed to Coptic Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The report added that the police allegedly used live bullets to disperse the rowdy youths and other protesters who had overpowered them.
10 houses at Maseno Police Line were allegedly vandalised during the anti-government protests.
"The students lit bonfires and barricaded Kisumu-Busia road using stones," the report read in part.
"They (students) overpowered the officers who were manning the station. The officers had run out of teargas canisters," it further claimed.
Before invading the police station, the protesters allegedly stormed a local supermarket and other business premises along the Kisumu-Busia highway.
Following the incident, Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong'o condemned the incident calling for law enforcement officers to exhibit professionalism while quelling riots.
The second-term governor defended the student, arguing that he had joined his colleagues to picket over the high cost of living.
"It is unfortunate that instead of using tear gas or rubber bullets, the police chose to fire live ammunition at the students," Nyong'o's statement read in part.
"As we send messages to the family of the slain student and the Maseno University fraternity, we demand that the police officer who fired the killer bullet be arrested and prosecuted as soon as possible," Nyong'o insisted.
The governor also alleged that the demonstrations were peaceful until hooligans joined in to cause havoc.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino also reprimanded the police calling for immediate action by the National Police Service.
"Police killed a student from Maseno University. So sad to educate a child to the university and lose him in the hands of a police officer who swore to protect lives.
"The only offence this comrade committed was to complain of going without food becaue of the high cost of living," Owino stated.
