A period of unrest rocked Mukuru Slums in Nairobi after an incident where a 15-year-old boy was allegedly shot dead by police on Tuesday, August 3, evening.
The Mukuru Community Justice Center in a statement on Wednesday said that the protests which started at around 6pm on Tuesday continued until late into the night as residents protested over the incident.
Videos seen by The Kenya Times showed the protesters engaging in running battles while others showed lit bonfires and roads blocked with stones.
According to the Mukuru Community Justice Center, the teenager was shot while at a pool table where three police officers stormed.
The Justice Center said that upon storming the joint, the police started searching one of the deceased’s friends over suspected possession of marijuana.
15-Year-Old Shot in Mukuru
It is alleged that the deceased and other friends asked the officers to stop undressing their other friend, which the officers allegedly took as disrespect to their work and shot the boy at close range.
“A 15-year-old was shot yesterday at a pool table their usual chilling yard after three police officers from Ruben police station started undressing their friend in search of marijuana,” read part of the statement.
“As community members wanted to rush him to a nearby clinic the officers threatened to shoot them. He died on the spot.”
The Kenya Times reached out to the National Police for a comment on the alleged killing of the boy, but the service was yet to respond by the time of publishing this article.
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The 15-year-old’s case is among recent cases of extrajudicial killings involving Kenyans that have been reported in the country.
A report by the Missing Voices on April 24, 2024, on alleged police killings in Kenya revealed that the number of extrajudicial victims decreased in the year 2023 to 118 from 130 in 2022 to 118.
“As this report shows, the number of those killed extra- judicially reduced by 9.2%, from 130 in 2022, to 118 in 2023, while enforced disappearances reduced from 22 in 2022 to 10 in 2023, a 54.5% decrease,” read part of the report.
The organization through its annual report further stated that the number of victims of enforced disappearances also decreased by 12 last year, from 22 in 2022.
Police Killings
According to the report, some of the other parameters, for instance, gender, age and manner of death, did not change.
Men were classified as the most affected by actions of police impunity, with the report stating that the proportion of men killed in 2023 remained high, at 94% of all victims, compared to 95.3% in 2022.
The proportion of women victims recorded a slight increase to 6% as compared to 4.7% in 2022.
Also Read: Mudavadi Forced to State Kenya’s Stand on Police Brutality
Missing Voices attributed the decrease in the killings to documentation and advocacy processes taken against them, among other factors.
“Whereas attribution is difficult in a situation in which there are many other actors, both state and non-state, MVC’s monitoring, documentation and advocacy processes against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances made a contribution to the reduction,” the report adds.
However, the Human Rights Activists highlighted that despite a decrease in the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, a significant number of Kenyans were still victimized and denied their right to live.
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