Alarm as police kill each other instead of shooting crooks

 Police officer remove the casket of slain CID officer Zebedeo Maina (Inset)

On July 25, just as US President Barack Obama was causing a stir in the city, Constable Philip Ochieng’ was felled by friendly fire by a colleague in an alleged case of mistaken identity. He was in a group pursing robbers in the morning in Ngong’ town.

Ten days earlier, a senior officer was killed under similar circumstances in Ndaragwa. Harun Mwang’ombe, the Ndaragwa OCS, was also shot in a case of mistaken identity by an Administration Police officer based at the Ndaragwa AP post.

Mwang’ombe was leading an ambush team following a car-jacking incident along Ndaragwa/Nyahururu Road on July 15, when he was shot twice in the stomach by the AP officer, who was in another company that had laid a parallel ambush.

It was claimed that despite the OCS’ team identifying itself, the AP side was not convinced, leading to the fatal night shooting. Mwang’ombe died while being transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital.

From shooting each other, committing suicides, to killing own relatives and engaging in violent robberies, the National Police Service (NPS) is caught up in a messy knot involving its own.

The problem of police killing fellow officers is so serious that over the last few months, 10 reported cases of police killed by their colleagues and three suicides have been recorded.

Experts say these incidents stem from frustrations triggered by high levels of stress – a problem NPS headquarters says it is trying to address. Last month, a female AP officer, whose identity was never made public, was shot dead by a colleague during an operation to arrest a suspect in a village in Mukumu, Kakamega County. The June 16 incident was described as ‘accidental.’ But villagers later claimed there was bad blood between the two officers after differing on how to share bribes from boda boda operators.

Still in the same county, AP constable Mustapha Alando, 29, went berserk and shot dead four colleagues and a civilian at Shiatsala AP camp in Butere, before turning the gun on himself on December 17, 2014. The officer was said to have been angered when colleagues allegedly leaked an illicit love affair to his wife. His superiors, Sergeant William Esinyen and Corporal Fabiano Lumwachi and constables Daniel Okutoyi, Carren Otiende and her husband Fred Otiende, a civilian, died in the shooting.

Three months ago, a Kenya Police officer shot dead two colleagues before committing suicide in a suspected love triangle in Igembe North, Meru County. The officer confronted a GSU Chief Inspector who was having drinks with a female officer on May 24. He was allegedly angry that the woman had ditched him for the GSU man. After killing the two, the officer turned the gun on himself.

But an officer we spoke to claims some of these killings are premeditated, especially if the victim is investigating a sensitive case touching on his bosses.

“An officer could also be in possession of damning secrets that people would do whatever it takes to keep under wraps,” claimed the officer, adding that love triangles are just as suicidal as squabbles over sharing of bribes. One baffling homicide is the August 3, 2013 killing of a senior Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI)officer who was shot dead by a colleague under mysterious circumstances in Kitui town.

Chief Inspector Zebedeo Maina who once headed the Kwekwe squad behind a sustained operation against Mungiki members, was shot in the back as he led a team to rescue a five and half year-old-girl. The minor had been kidnapped from Nairobi.

Constable Justus Wendot was arrested in connection to the death, initially described as accidental. Wendot, who was armed with AK 47, shot twice allegedly to free his boss from a mob after he had arrested the prime suspect. Before succumbing to severe bleeding, Maina insisted that he had been shot by Wendot, who currently is facing murder charges.