A police officer shot and killed two forest rangers and injured another before taking his own life in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
In the incident that has been linked to a love triangle, the officer identified as Evans Kimutai travelled from Turkana County to Cherangany Forest Station and committed the killings.
Armed with an AK47, the police constable who is attached to the elite Border Patrol Unit in Todoyang, Turkana County, also shot an injured another forest officer at the camp.
The deceased officers killed in the Sunday midnight raid have been identified as Abdalla Dzabo Kittole and Marion Cherono who are 22 and 20 years old respectively.
The injured officer is Jeniffer Kilonzo.
According to the police, after committing the heinous act, Kimutai shot himself in the chin, bursting his head open.
One AK 47 rifle, 17 spent cartridges, three magazines including one which was empty, another with three bullets and another with 30 bullets were recovered at the scene.
The incident was reported at Kapcherop Police Station.
This comes a day after a cop died by suicide in Migori County over what is believed to have been domestic wrangles.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning when the officer shot himself in the chest and was rushed to a local hospital where he died while receiving treatment.
According to the deceased cop’s colleague, he excused himself from the patrol to handle an undisclosed personal matter.
However, a few minutes later, the officer heard gunshots from her colleague’s house and rushed to the scene only to find him bleeding from a gunshot.
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According to the police commander, the deceased officer had received a call from his wife who wanted to purchase electricity tokens.
He, however, shot himself before talking to his spouse.
These are not isolated cases, for instance, in March 2023, a junior police officer killed two women before turning the gun on himself in Lang’ata, Nairobi County.
Corporal Mark Mulanda first killed his colleague’s wife before he pulled the trigger on his own girlfriend and later killed himself in his house, police said.
The deceased women were identified as Fiona Chepkoech who was the wife to the deceased’s colleague and Rhoda Machuma Chepchumba who was Mulanda’s girlfriend.
Police Mulanda shot at Fiona two times while Rhoda had seven bullets. Fiona was apparently shot at after she came out of her house to establish the problem in Mulanda’s house.
According to 2021 National Police Service (NPS) statistics, between 2016 and 2020, 65 cases of murder and 57 cases of suicide were recorded within the service.
This indicates an average of 13 murders and 11 suicides per year.
Besides murder-suicides, there has also been an increase in public displays of frustration and stress by various officers attached to different stations across the country.
The incidents have sparked discussions about the underlying reasons for them.
