Police involved in shooting of woman in park disarmed as probe starts

Four police officers have been disarmed following the killing of a woman in a case of mistaken identity at City Park.

Their rifles were taken for ballistic testing to establish which one fired the bullets that killed 41-year-old Janet Waiyaki. Ms Waiyaki’s companion, Bernard Chege, 26, was also shot and wounded in the Sunday morning incident and is in hospital.

Even though only two of the officers fired their AK-47 rifles, their colleagues were also disarmed as investigations into the killing got underway.

One of the officers fired four bullets while his colleague discharged seven.

The officers had come from Industrial Area and it is not clear what had brought them to Parklands, given that City Park is under the jurisdiction of Parklands Police Station.

The woman and man were in a private vehicle.

According to police and witnesses, the car had been parked for more than an hour, raising suspicion. The shooting happened at about 10am.

Elsewhere, two suspected criminals were shot dead yesterday morning by police in Mlango Kubwa.

Mugging pedestrians

Police said the suspects were mugging pedestrians at about 5am when the alarm was raised, alerting officers on patrol.

Nairobi police boss Joseph ole Tito said the accomplices managed to escape, adding that they recovered crude weapons and stolen property from the dead suspects before their bodies were taken to the mortuary.

Witnesses said the suspects were mostly targeting women going to the market.

Police have killed up to 10 suspects in the past week alone.

Most of them were shot in Dandora and were youths aged between 18 and 23, raising concerns over the rising number of young people engaging in violent crime.

Five of those killed were linked to a gang that had allegedly shot dead a police officer in a matatu in a hijacking incident on Thika Road on April 28.

The weapon that was stolen from Corporal Martin Korir was recovered from the slain suspects, police said.

Mr Tito said the number of police patrols had been increased, especially near informal settlements.