Police in Gilgil Sub-County are investigating two occurrences where a civilian and a police officer died in two different shooting incidents on Tuesday night.
In the first incident, a police officer attached to the Anti-Stock Theft Unit headquarters in the Gilgil sub-county is said to have committed suicide by shooting himself in the head while on duty on Tuesday night.
Confirming the incident, Gilgil Sub-County Commissioner Mr. Willy Cheboi said the officer (name withheld) of the rank of an Administration Police Constable (APC) had been assigned guard duties at their station with his colleague when he shot himself.
“He left his colleague and told him he was going to answer the call of nature, and the next thing that was heard were gunshots from the deceased officer`s direction,” Cheboi said.
The officer was found lying dead in a pool of blood, having shot himself in the head. The motive of the incident is yet to be established, as no suicide note was found, but several spent cartridges were recovered from the scene.
The body is now lying at the Gilgil Sub-County Hospital mortuary, pending a postmortem and further investigations into this unfortunate incident.
In another incident, a 53-year-old man was shot dead by forest rangers in Eburru forest in Gilgil on Tuesday night.
Confirming the incident, Gilgil Sub-County Police Commander Mr. Francis Tumbo said the deceased, identified as Stephen Wakaba, had gone into the forest with his 17-year-old son at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday when they were confronted by forest rangers.
Tumbo said a scuffle ensued, whereupon one of the forest rangers shot the deceased severally in the chest as the son fled. He died on the spot.
The body is also lying at the Gilgil Sub-County Hospital Mortuary, pending a postmortem and further investigations into the incident.
Data from the National Police Service (NPS) indicates that Kenya loses about 7,000 people to suicide-related deaths annually, with 142,500 others being survivors of suicide.
The World Population Review ranks Kenya at position 114 among 175 countries with the highest suicide rate.
The World Population Review states in its survey that Kenya’s suicide rate is at least 6.5 suicides per 100,000 people, a figure echoed by the World Health Organisation.
As part of efforts to address the trend, police authorities last year launched counselling services where the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) established a unit and staffed it to attend to their demanding situation.
The counselling unit does, among other things, evaluate, design, and lead an outreach programme that helps prevent mental health and substance abuse among the security personnel.
By Mabel Keya – Shikuku
