Mpeketoni family wants officer who shot, injured unarmed son, arrested

Mohammed Omar at his Kenyatta National Hospital bed where he is recovering from a shooting. [PHOTO: TABITHA KIMUNA OTWORI/STANDARD]

LAMU COUNTY: A family from Kiwayu in Lamu County is demanding justice for their son Mohammed Omar, 27, after he was allegedly shot by a police officer on patrol. The family wants the officer apprehended.

“I was on my way home from work and just a few metres from my house I met two officers. I tried to I identify myself but one of them shot me,” Mohammed said of the June 19 incident.

He says he fell down in pain, crying out for help but no one dared to get out of their house to rescue him because of the ongoing security operation. He says the officer wanted to shoot him for the second time but a police officer he identifies only as Malo stopped him.

“I could hear him say he wanted to finish me to leave no trace of evidence but he was stopped and they left me there bleeding and in great pain. I know the two officers, one is a regular police at Kiwayu and the other is an administration police officer at Ndau,” Mohammed said.

The Standard on Sunday caught up with Mohammed at Kenyatta National Hospital on Tuesday, days after a successful surgery to save his life.

He says a few hours later, locals got to the spot where the officers had left him only to find him still breathing and clinging on to dear life. He was taken to the nearest dispensary where he was given pain killers before being taken to Lamu General Hospital. It was about 1am when the motor boat took off from the shores of the Indian Ocean in Kiwayu.

Naked and still bleeding profusely, Mohammed braved the cold weather and bumpy three-hour motor boat ride to Lamu town, more than six hours after he was shot.

He arrived barely alive, and had to undergo a blood transfusion to keep him alive before he was airlifted to Nairobi for an operation and specialised treatment. The bullet tore through his stomach, compelling doctors to operate on him immediately he arrived at KNH. A few hours later, he was wheeled out of the recovery room.

Miraculously, the bullet missed his spinal cord and intestines. For six days, Mohammed has not eaten anything through his mouth as his tummy continues to heal.

His father Omar Mohammed Mwalimu is demanding justice for his son and an immediate arrest of the two suspected police officers.

“There is no justification for shooting an unarmed innocent man. Those who did this should pay. We demand action against the two accused policemen,” Mwalimu said.

Mohammed is a Nyumba Kumi ambassador in Kiwayu. He is considered the eyes and ears of the security apparatus in the area. His aunt Daula Mohammed said no action has been taken against the officers even after the family filed a report with the police. “He is a good boy, well known and has on several occasions assisted the Government with useful information having been chosen as a leader in the Nyumba kumi initiative. How then does the same police officers who know him so well shoot him claiming it was accidental?” she poses.

However, Lamu East police boss Samuel Obara has a different version of the matter. “We received information that suspected al-Shabaab men were hiding in Kiwayu area and the man emerged abruptly from the forest with a panga and engaged police in a confrontation,” said Obara.

He claimed the officers shot in the air to scare Mohammed away, but he continued charging at them, forcing them to shoot him.