Police seize car belonging to varsity student who shot himself after surviving road crash

 

Brian Kagwe

Police have launched investigations into the death of a university student who is said to have committed suicide.

According to initial reports, Brian Kagwe, 22, shot himself dead using his father’s gun in Loresho, Nairobi, minutes after he had survived an accident.

Brian, who was a student at the United States International University, took his father’s pistol from the bedroom and shot himself twice in the chest as his mother pleaded with him not to take away his life, police said.

Police revealed that after Brian got involved in an accident, he and two friends abandoned their car on the road and called an Uber taxi to take them home.

The Uber driver is among those who have been questioned so far.

He told police Brian and his two friends rode in his car and he dropped them at their respective homes.

“We initially thought the friends were seriously injured but realised they had slight injuries after they came forward shocked about the shooting,” said an officer aware of the probe.

Brian’s father, Samuel Karanja Kagwe, is a licensed firearms holder and was not at home when the incident occurred.

He was in a meeting in Naivasha and had left the gun with 15 bullets in a safe. Mr Kagwe is a real estate developer.

Brian had been partying in the city with his friends when they decided to drive home on Friday night.

According to police and his mother, Nyambura, on reaching Slip Road in the city, Brian’s car was involved in an accident.

This made him think the accident was serious.

Brian arrived home angry and dejected at 2am.

On reaching home along Kabarage drive, he woke up his mother and explained to her what had happened. He told his mother that because his friend had been injured, he saw no reason to live.

According to Nyambura, she tried to calm her son down in vain. He told her he had killed his friends in an accident.

“The mother says the boy was unsettled. He went to his father’s bedroom and got a gun which he used to kill himself,” said Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome.

Brian was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The father returned home hours later to be confronted with the shocking news. He has also been questioned by police over the incident.

The vehicle was towed to Central Police Station.