Man raids police station, injures four officers in bizarre attack

Four policemen were injured when a man attacked them in a police station in Kirigi village in Embu North.

The man is said to have held Manyatta Police Station under siege for more than one hour before he was overpowered in the Monday night attack.

It was not immediately clear why the 22-year-old man attacked the station but sources said he was incensed when police told him there was nothing they could do to put out a fire because there was no fire engine.

The man is said to have gone to the station at around 10pm to report a fire in his village.

The attacker allegedly switched off the lights and pounced on the officers manning the desk.

Occurrence Book

The Standard learnt that he destroyed the Occurrence Book, cell register, communication gadgets, a presidential portrait, a table telephone, four window panes and one armchair.

The injured policemen tried to restrain him to no avail. It is not clear if he had another motive apart from the confrontation about an alleged fire. The man escaped as more officers came in to help their colleagues.

When asked how police officers could be disarmed and clobbered senselessly by an unarmed villager, senior security officers said the victims could not use their guns because the lights were switched off.

They claimed the officers used tear gas instead to disorganise the raider.

The injured officers are said to have been treated at a local clinic and discharged as the police search for the attacker.

A source, who lives next to the police station, said some officers had told him that the attacker was annoyed because he was turned away when he reported a fire.

The man then engaged the policemen for a while, insisting that they needed to take action, the source said.

When he realised he was standing near the light switch, he turned the lights off, plunging the room into darkness.

When the officers approached him, he responded with kicks and blows.

That is when they are said to have fired a tear gas canister, causing him to flee. The officers are said to have given chase but did not catch him.

Smoking bhang

"The man is known to some officers. He went to confront them for reasons known to them since there was no fire in Kirigi. He is either mentally sick or his behaviour was as a result of smoking bhang, or another issue altogether," said the source.

Embu North Assistant County Commissioner Benjamin Birech said the police were looking for the man.

"They want to know his motives of his attack," he said.

"We are looking for him to establish his motives for the attack. It's clear he had no good intentions when he visited the station," Mr Birech said.

Area OCPD Mark Wanjala said the suspect, whose mother operates a bar in Manyatta, had also attacked some residents before he was overpowered.

He is said to have been injured during the attack and was taken to Embu Level Five Hospital for mental tests.