 |
| Stanley Kuria |
Families and friends of two victims of murder and suicide have expressed shock at the Rongai murder-suicide incident that claimed the life of a civilian and Kenya Wildlife Service ranger.
Colleagues have revealed that the assailant was a stressed Kenya Wildlife Service ranger.
Ranger Mohamed Daud shot and killed a reveller in a club in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County before he died by suicide a few kilometres away.
He first shot and killed Stanley Kuria, 24 in a club on Saturday, August 17 morning before he took a motorbike to his house a few kilometres away where he burst his head.
Daudi’s colleagues said he had been stressed over work and family issues.
“He lived alone here and he has been having financial, work and family challenges. This is common among some rangers in this field,” said an official at the service.
Both the ranger and the deceased man had an altercation at the N Bar Night Club before the assailant left.
He then came back armed with an AK47 rifle and stormed into the nightclub in Rongai in the wee hours of Saturday and shot Kuria dead.
Police and witnesses said the ranger ordered all those who were present to lie down before he targeted the victim in the back and head shooting him three times.
He then fled the scene using a motorcycle as the other revellers waited for help.
This was after he ordered the club to be closed. The nightclub is in the Tumaini Area along Mugis Road.
Police said the ranger had a confrontation with the deceased on Friday around 8 pm before he left and came back armed and killed Kuria.
He spared the other revellers present. It is not clear what prompted the altercation.
Daud is said to have commandeered a bodaboda operator from the scene and told him to take him where he wanted to go or he would also die.
The rider John Wamae told police that on the way, the ranger ordered him to stop at a shop that sells muguka where asked for the smallest bundle.
The seller said he told him the bundle cost Sh70 but Daudi told him he had Sh50, which prompted a brief argument before it ended when the shopkeeper saw a gun.
“He showed me a gun and I told him it was okay. Go and don’t pay and he left before he jumped onto the waiting motorcycle,” said the shopkeeper.
Wamae said he rode the ranger to the nearby Nairobi National Park Workshop residence where he dropped him.
“When I dropped him he said may God bless you and I left,” said Wamae.
The ranger is said to have gone to his house where he took his life using the rifle. The bullet went through the chin and exited in the head.
It was established that the officer was on guard duties within the Central Workshop at the time he committed the offence.
At his house, police recovered a magazine containing 20 live bullets.
The Rongai nightclub scene was also processed and three spent cartridges were recovered and kept as an exhibit.
The bodies of the deceased ranger and that of Kuria were moved and preserved at Nairobi Funeral Home.
Kuria’s mother Waithera visited the mortuary and asked for justice in the incident.
She said Kuria had the previous night asked her to lend her money for a night out which she objected.
“I am shocked to learn he is dead. We want justice,” said Waithera.
Cases of suicide involving police, prison warders and rangers are on the rise.
Officials say police are generally on the receiving end of all community problems.
They are expected to maintain law and order in difficult situations, besides putting their lives at risk.
Over the years, a spike in deaths in the service has been linked to trauma.
They include deaths by gun, officials say.
by CYRUS OMBATI