Coast Police Commander Francis Wanjohi in Mombasa County on Friday,022nd April,2016. PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD

An eight-year-old boy and a 29-year-old man are fighting for their lives after they were shot by police officers in Mombasa.

Rashid Mohammed, a nursery school pupil, was shot in the chest while the man had his private parts blasted off during the early morning incident in Magodoroni, Kisauni.

The man said at Coast General Hospital that his manhood was completely destroyed by the bullet. Police have termed the shooting accidental.

When The Standard visited the patients, the bullet was still lodged in Rashid’s chest. The boy was going to school with his elder brother when he was hit by the bullet.

Regional Police Commander Francis Wanjohi (pictured) said the officers were after suspected members of Wakali Kwanza gang who had snatched a woman’s purse. “I want to believe that they could have been injured by stray bullets but we are yet to get medical reports,” he said.