Mothers Rally Relatives In Demonstrations Against Teenagers Killed By Police In Nakuru
The relatives of five youths from Nakuru County rallied on Sunday to condemn the shooting of their loved ones by accused Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers during an incident in Barut on Saturday evening.
Speaking to journalists, the young men’s moms pointed fingers at KWS police, accusing them of tracing the youngsters down to a church where they were conducting their activities.
It was reported that the authorities targeted the lads for supposed illicit fishing activity in Lake Nakuru.
Two moms defended their boys, ages 15 and 17, saying they had nothing to do with the alleged fishing.
They insisted that the lads were attending church and did not engage in fishing at the water body, as the authorities alleged.
While recounting the incident, the fifteen-year-old’s mother explained that her son, who was sitting outside the church, was shot.
She added that the young man is undergoing surgery at Nakuru Provincial General Hospital as physicians attempt to save his life.
On the other hand, a mother of a seventeen-year-old reported that her son had been shot in the leg and was in critical condition.
“My son is seventeen years old and yesterday around 6:30 P.M., KWS officers came and shot at them while in church, they fired live bullets which forced the boys out of the church,” she narrated.
“When I walked towards the area, there were three law enforcement vehicles with officers firing live bullets, I had to hide to evade the fire,” she added.
Locals reported that the push and pull of fishing operations are caused by fish being driven to the coastlines near their homes owing to rising water levels around Lake Nakuru.
Furthermore, the locals claimed that KWS police had acquired a tendency to harass them unprovoked.
One of the residents complained that their efforts to get the officers penalized had been useless because the officers were clearly acting irresponsibly.
“They also harass police officers, on certain occasions, they have forced police to sit and they handcuff them, the police are placed in the same cells as civilians,” the residents claimed.
However, at the time of publication, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has not published a statement regarding the occurrence.
Mothers Rally Relatives In Demonstrations Against Teenagers Killed By Police In Nakuru
