An AK-47 wielding Kenyan police officer shot dead six people, including his wife, and wounded two others before turning the gun on himself in Nairobi around 3 AM on Tuesday.
The officer first killed his wife in their home, shooting her in the neck with his service rifle before firing indiscriminately at neighbours, the Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said on Tuesday.
According to the DCI, three of the young men who were killed by the police officer were mourners who had just attended preparations for a funeral. It added:
After killing the three, the cop then turned his rifle at two Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi) riders, one of whom lost his life while undergoing treatment at the Kenyatta national hospital
Two wounded people were also in critical condition, the DCI noted.
Francis Wahome, the officer in charge of Nairobi’s Dagoretti area, confirmed the incident and the death toll but gave no other details. He said:
We have lost six people all shot by the police officer before he committed suicide.
… We are told that the couple had issues and were quarrelling before.
Angry residents near where the incident took place later set fire to tyres on a road in a protest against the senseless shootings.
Cases of police officers shooting dead their spouses occur frequently in Kenya.
In November this year, another officer opened fire on his colleagues in central Kenya, fatally shooting one in the head before fleeing.
In November 2010, another police officer in a jealous rage shot dead 10 people including two of his colleagues in a rampage through two bars in central Kenya before surrendering to police.
He had tried to kill himself but had run out of ammunition, forcing him to surrender to the police.
