Family cries for help to fly in slain kin's body

A family in Makueni has asked the county government and well-wishers to help them raise funds to fly in the body of their kin who was shot dead in the US.

Mike Mulwa Ngangi, 29, was killed in Alabama, a southern US state, earlier this month.

Police in Birmingham have since arrested his assailant, Chandler Bryant, 18, and charged him with capital murder. Bryant has been denied bond.

Until his death, Mr Mulwa was living in Atlanta and working in Alabama. He was shot in the chest on June 3 at 11pm at the Citgo Gas Station, where he was the proprietor.

According to his cousin, Eric Sukulu, the father of two was rushed to the University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham where he succumbed to the single gunshot wound after undergoing surgery. Police who responded to the alarm concluded robbery was involved.

Mulwa was the co-owner of the #254 skill-wear fashion brand and the 254 clothing label, a popular brand among Kenyans living in the US, especially in Dallas, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia.

Mulwa was on phone with a friend on the fateful night when a man walked into the gas station, recounted Mr Sukulu.

"From the witness account, Mike had identified the intruder as the one who had robbed him the previous night. One of his friends had even posted a message Mike sent him about the suspect on Facebook," he said.

In Makueni, his father Ngangi Mutuku said the burden of raising over Sh2.5 million for airlifting the body to Kenya was too much for his family.

"I only have two cows which cannot be sold to even cater for the burial of my son, I request friends and well-wishers to come forward and help us," said Mr Mutuku.

Family and friends held a memorial service on June 10 at the Kenyan American Community Church in Marietta, Georgia, where hundreds turned up to pay their last respects. A fundraiser was held and they raised $25,000 (Sh2,588,750).

In Kenya, comedian Daniel Ndambuki has organised a fundraising slotted to take place on June 21 at Garden square Nairobi to help raise money towards burial arrangements.