Former Police Spokesperson Charles Owino now claims that Boniface Mwangi Kariuki, the hawker who was shot in the head during anti-police brutality protests in Nairobi, insulted the officer who fired the shot.
According to Owino, police officers may use their firearms in “certain circumstances” that will require them to “act on their own” if they need to act swiftly.
While condemning the shooting, he argued that a keen observation of the video showing Kariuki’s altercation with two police officers reveals that he mentioned an irksome slur, seemingly vexing the officer.
“It was a very simple exchange. If you listen to that clip closely you will hear that boy abusing the policeman. But you are an officer you must have restraint, and shoot him with a rubber bullet.
You can see what it has caused the image of the police so far,” he told Citizen TV on Monday.
The former police spokesperson also argued that given the age of the officer who pulled the trigger, he (Klinzy Barasa) might have not been able to contain anger.
“Such a young boy… If you abuse him… you know what may happen,” said Owino.
“Police are well trained on justifiable circumstances on use of firearms, and they are aware that every officer will always find themselves in situations where they have to act on their own without the opportunity to refer to their books or superiors.”
He further noted that a similar circumstance prompted Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to issue his now-troublesome shoot-on-sight orders.
“The minister can only give instructions to the IG in writing and on matters of policy. That is what the constitution provides. But it reaches a point where a minister is seen to be incapacitated by the actions of people,” Owino noted.
On Thursday, June 26, shortly after delivering a media briefing on the state of the country in the wake of the Gen Z protests, which he described as an attempted coup, Murkomen instructed the police to shoot anyone who attempts to approach a police station.
Kairuki was declared brain dead on Sunday as his family’s spokesperson Emily Wanjira said that medics at the Kenyatta National Hospital confirmed that Mwangi’s organs are still functioning.
“Mwangi is confirmed brain dead. We know what it means. We are just waiting for the doctor to tell us he is no more,” she said.
The family added that there are more bullet fragments in his brain that have not yet been extracted.
The two police officers who roughed up Kariuki before one of them shot him are being detained to allow further probe by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
Klinzy Baraza Masinde and Duncan Kiprono, who have since been interdicted and are being prosecuted for shooting Kariuki along Mondlane Street in Nairobi’s Central Business District on June 17.
