Police in Meru have launched a manhunt for a woman found in possession of a gun believed to have been used by her father in a murder.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), residents of Kabachi had gone to visit Kawira Kanyaru, who immediately took off and dropped the gun wrapped in a green shopping bag as she fled.
According to the DCI, Kawira is the daughter of murder suspect William Kanyaru, who along with two other men allegedly killed a 70-year-old man over a land dispute on February 17, 2024.
DCI said that Kanyaru was accompanied by two other men identified as Robert Meeme and Japhet Johana and visited a farm in Luthaya village on Saturday and targeted the old man’s son armed with a pistol, a panga, and a knife.
“Kanyaru is said to have fired a shot that missed the target, the deceased’s son before his late father rushed to his rescue. The three were said to have turned their attention to him where they brutally attacked him to death,” the DCI’s statement read in part.
Kanyaru and Johana later surrendered to the police and shifted the blame to Meeme, saying that he had the murder weapon.
On Sunday night, the area assistant chief is said to have got wind of Kawira’s links to the murder and mobilised some residents to accompany him on his visit to the woman’s house.
Kawira allegedly took off as soon as she saw the residents.
The gun she dropped, the DCI added, was found loaded with six rounds of ammunition and is believed to have belonged to her father.
A manhunt is now underway to apprehend Kawira, who is still at large.
