A 23-year-old man was Thursday shot and killed by police officers in Keroka Town after he attempted to escape from custody following a court ruling.
Kelvin Ongaro had been sentenced to 14 years in jail for violent robbery, but in a dramatic turn of events, he attempted to escape as he was being led out of the court room to the holding cells at Keroka Police Station.
Police officers were forced to shoot after the criminal disregarded warnings by three prison warders who were escorting convicts to the cells.
Keroka OCPD Patterson Maelo told the Standard that Ongaro and a group of other convicts were being escorted back to the holding cells by three prison warders when he took off towards a nearby village.
“The prison warders pursued him for one kilometer firing warning shots into the air but he kept on running, forcing the officers to take the killer shot,” Maelo said.
Ongaro had been detained for one year at Kisii Main Prison while on trial for robbery with violence, and had been arrested on suspicion of being part of a gang involved in violent crimes in the region.
On Thursday, he was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison for a crime that usually attracts the death penalty.
Ongaro was handed the watered down sentence after the prosecution failed to place him at the scene of the crime. However, he was found in possession of the stolen items.
