A police officer was taken into police custody after he opened fire inside one of Kenya's residential estates.
According to a report by Daily Nation, the unidentified officer shot and injured two people on Tuesday, April 21, inside Buruburu Estate in Kabarnet, Baringo County.
Confirming the incident, Baringo Central Sub-county police boss Francis Gachoki disclosed that investigations had been opened into the incident.
The officer was carrying out his official patrol duties to enforce the curfew when the incident occurred.
Those who were injured included a second-hand clothes trader and a boda-boda operator.
The case has compounded rising cases of police brutality in the name of enforcing the curfew with data showing that up to six lives have been lost since the dusk-to-dawn curfew was instituted.
A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report pointed out that police were using excessive force while some were breaking into homes and shops and extorting money from residents among other misdemeanors.
“It is shocking that people are losing their lives and livelihoods while supposedly being protected from infection.
“Police brutality isn’t just unlawful; it is also counterproductive in fighting the spread of the coronavirus,” senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch told People Daily.
Families of victims of the brutality, as Kenyans.co.ke learned, will, however, have to wait longer for justice to be delivered since the cases were deemed as complex.
IPOA Head of Communications and Outreach, Dennis Oketch, told Kenyans.co.ke that the case of Yasin Moyo, 13, who was shot dead by a police officer in Kiamaiko, Nairobi, was under investigation and it could take a while before justice is served.
"I cannot authoritatively tell you that we are finishing in a week or two. So I cannot give you an exact date," he stated.
IPOA investigations reportedly take on an average of six months to be completed.
