17-year-old Huruma boy accidentally shot dead by DCI, police say

Crime scene. [File]

Police have confirmed that a 17-year-old boy who died in Huruma, Nairobi on Thursday night, September 9, succumbed to injuries inflicted by a bullet fired by DCI officers.

Authorities say Haila Asanake died after being hit by a stray bullet fired by DCI detectives, who were repulsing residents’ hostility.

Asanake’s family says the teenager was standing on a balcony at their Kiamaiko home at around 8pm, when the bullet fatally struck him.

Police now say DCI detectives attached to Pangani post had stopped a suspicious motor vehicle, and when the driver of the car alighted, he “started a scuffle with the detectives”.

The resultant melee, police say, attracted other members of the public, who reacted by stoning the detectives.

“This prompted officers to shoot in the air,” says a police report filed at the Huruma Police Station under the OB Number 70/09/09/2021.

Asanake, who was allegedly killed by the fired bullet, died on arrival at the Jumuia Hospital.

The deceased’s uncle, Branu Boku Cheme, said the teenager was a law-abiding boy, who occasionally earned money from working as a porter.

His body is still preserved at the same facility, awaiting postmortem.