A 19-year-old form four student is lucky to be alive after he was shot 9 times by police officers during anti-government protests in Kisumu County.
Fidel Castro is among the three people admitted at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital with bullets stuck in his chest and arm.
A medical officer at the facility attending to the student counted nine bullets, from an ex-ray scan.
Fidel, who is a student at Olembo Secondary School stated that he narrowly escaped death from the hands of the people he claims to be the police.
He alleged that a group of police officers stormed their compound at Nyamasaria estate and found him playing with two friends.
“They shot at me nine times in the back. I am going through a lot of pain, and I am asking for your help,” he said.
Also, there are three other patients at the hospital recovering from multiple gunshot wounds after successful procedures.
“We have already operated on three patients who also had the same number of bullets lodged in the chest and on the back,” said Teresa Okiri, director of nursing services at the hospital.
One of the three recovering patients is also a student who was shot six times in the arm and ten times in the back. On Wednesday July 29, which was the first day of the protests, the facility admitted 14 people with gunshot wounds.
The nurse said most of the patients admitted have bullets lodged in their chest, arms, back and legs. Additionally, Tony Owego, a second-year student at Great Lakes University Kisumu was shot in the knee at Nyalenda slums.
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“One police officer approached me to a distance of on meter, shot me on the right knee and walked away,” he said.
Teresa explained that they are experiencing delays in theatre operations due to the shortage of health workers caused by the anti-government protests in Kisumu.
“I am having nurses and doctors working 24 hours with some of them working for 36 hours which is very hectic, but we are supporting them,” she said.
Deaths and police brutality
The death toll from the anti-government protests rose to twelve on Friday, July 21 after six more people were shot in Kisumu and two in Nakuru.
Activists accused the state of using police killer squads to brutalize demonstrators.
Kisumu governor Prof. Ayang Nyong’o and his Siaya counterpart James Orengo castigated the police of terrorizing residents in the two counties.
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In a press statement, Nyong’o accused the police of using excess force on innocent and harmless members of the public in Kisumu.
“Reports reaching me indicated that many innocents including those who never participated in the protests have been harmed and arrested by the police,” he said.
The governor appealed to the state and the police to stop profiling the people of Kisumu adding residents in Nyalenda, Obunga, Manyatta and Bandani have experienced the worst of police brutality.
Further, Nyongo accused the police of targeting boda boda riders and mama mbogas during their operations.
