A family in Karatina is demanding for justice after their 19-year-old son was shot and injured during the Nane Nane protest in Karatina town on August 8, 2024.
The family of Wycliffe Thiongo who is admitted in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Kenyata National Hospital says he was not involved in the protest and that he was on his way home from work when he was shot by masked security officers.
Thiongo is among eight people who were left with gunshot injuries during the #nanenanemarch protest in Karatina town on August 8.
Videos circulated on social media showed four men using an unmarked Subaru traversing the town shooting at protesters to disperse them.
Masked Men Shooting Live Bullets in Karatina
The men were reportedly using live ammunitions and were captured in different corners in the town shooting at protesters.
As a result, eight people including a minor were left nursing gunshot wounds at Karatina Sub County hospital.
Speaking to the media, Thiongo’s close relative who hid her identity said the family has camped at Kenyata National Hospital for the last 3 days after their kin was shot and left with a life-threatening injury.
“He called me at the time when he was leaving the salon so that we could go home together, and as he was coming, he encountered those police officers. They ran and took cover somewhere, and that’s when he was shot,” said the relative.
Also Read: Puzzle as City Mortuary Records Over 50 Bodies with Gunshot Wounds in One Month
Thiongo who is a salonist at one of the salons in the area was leaving work when all hell broke loose.
He was shot in the chest and the bullet exited from the back and now needs specialized treatment.
“The doctor said we referred him to Kenyatta. We got into the ambulance and came to Kenyatta. He was taken to the theater, and now he is in the ICU,” the relative said.
Also Read: How DCI Trapped and Abducted Blogger Over Nane Nane Protests
Blood Donation and Justice
Thiongo, a teenager who is to join College in the next two weeks will have to wait longer due to this turn of events.
Further, the family appealed to well-wishers to donate blood for Thiongo and asked the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to conduct investigations and ensure justice is served.
The blood donation can be done at Kenyatta National Hospital through the contact person, Diana Wambui, at 0721-651-013.
“The police are using force. I don’t understand why they are using so much force when people are unarmed. People are just walking, yet the officers are using live bullets. Like Thiongo here, he was hit by a live bullet, not a rubber bullet.”
“We aren’t fighting or having weapons in the streets we only have flags water and shouting and saying that we need good governance and that’s all that,” Meshack Owuor, a friend said.
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