KISUMU, Kenya, Mar 30- The Anti-Terror Police are probing an early morning Friday incident in Kisumu, where a man snatched a gun from police, and started shooting indiscriminately.
The officer, who sustained a serious gunshot injury, was managing traffic in the busy lakeside city.
Other than the officer, five other people sustained gunshot injuries, with two succumbing while receiving treatment in hospital.
“The incident happened at about 8.30am,” a witness told Shahidi News.
One of those who succumbed is a Ugandan, police said.
The traffic police was controlling traffic at the BP roundabout near Kisumu Boys High School when he was accosted by the shooter and disarmed.
“The shooter was wearing a hoodie and had gloves in both hands,” an incident report seen by Shahidi News reads. “Only his eyes were visible. There was a struggle but he overpowered the officer and disarmed him.”
He shot the officer on his pelvic and the bullet exited through the stomach.
“He is receiving treatment in hospital though his condition is serious,” a senior police officer who visited the wounded colleague said.
Upon grabbing the gun from the traffic officer, locals who saw him said the shooter entered Kisumu bus park and was shooting aimlessly before entering a nearby hotel.
An officer who was manning the bus park managed to subdue him with the help of members of the public.
The Ceska pistol with no rounds of ammunition was recovered.
Efforts by the officer to calm the agitated crowd bore no fruits. He was beaten to death.
-Returnee from Somalia? –
Several national identification cards bearing different names were recovered from him.
“We intend to establish if he had been radicalized for him to do such a thing,” another officer said.
Police are also seeking to know his history and whether he has a crime record.
According to an officer who spoke to Shahidi News, the shooter could be a returnee from Somalia or a member of a terror group.
If not, the officer said “he must have been radicalized.”
Intelligence reports indicate several recruits have sneaked back to the country over the past a few months.
The country has a Countering Violent Extremism strategy due to the ever existing threat and mostly in urban slum areas.
Most of the extremism cases are linked to the Somalia based Al-Shabaab terror group.
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