A police officer is nursing gunshot wounds after he accidentally shot himself in the index toe of his right leg in Kilimani, Nairobi.
Police said Constable Joseph Mandela was on patrol with his colleagues when an AK47 rifle he was holding accidentally discharged.
According to a police report, the officer was holding the weapon for his colleague when the incident happened on the morning of July 25, 2023.
“His colleague had gone for a brief call and while holding the weapon, it fired two bullets, wounding the officer in the toe. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition,” the report said.
Police said they are investigating the incident, adding that the gun has been kept for analysis. It is suspected that the gun was not in safety mode at the time of the incident.
In March, a police officer based in Huruma, Nairobi was rushed to hospital after he accidentally shot himself during an operation.
The incident happened while police officers was trying to arrest a man who had tried to stab and kill his parents in the area.
According to a report filed at the time, the 23-year-old man had locked his parents in their house and tried to kill them by stabbing them.
The father of the man called the police and officers rushed to the scene where they found the said suspect was acting wild while armed with a knife.
It was then that the team attempted to disarm him of the knife but he resisted and tried to stab one of the officers.
This prompted the targeted officer to act in defence and triggered his rifle, which discharged and injured him in the left leg.
