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Bungei: Police did not shoot Rex Masai
Director of Operations at the National Police Service, Adamson Bungei. Inset: Rex Masai.
Police officers were not involved in the fatal shooting of Rex Masai, a youthful protestor who was killed in Nairobi during the Gen-Z nationwide demonstrations, a Nairobi court heard on Wednesday.
A public inquest that is investigating circumstances that caused Masai’s death on June 20, 2024 on Moi Avenue Nairobi was also informed that there was no police operation in the capital city.
The director of operations at the National Police Service, Adamson Bungei, who was the then Nairobi regional commander, told the inquest that no police officer was involved in the fatal shooting.
He said that police later learned that the injury sustained by Masai was a gunshot wound after the postmortem examination exercise.
“No police officer knew the injury the victim had sustained and it was only confirmed that it was a gunshot wound when the postmortem examination was done on June 21, 2024. I didn't know what caused the wound that caused him to bleed excessively. After the postmortem a probe was done but I can't confirm issues of shooting. I'm not the author of the report,” said Mr Bungei.
The post mortem revealed that the victim sustained a single gunshot wound on the left thigh.
Absolving police from the death, Mr Bungei said “we have private firearm owners and goons who are on the street who can shoot”.
“On June last year in the morning hours, there was a situation within Nairobi central business district. It started from 8.00am, occasioned by communication going on in social media that there could be a demonstration by the youth (Gen-Z). There was a large demonstration which led to destruction of property and breach of peace. Police had to step in,” said Mr Bungei.
Testifying before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo, who is leading the inquest, the senior police boss said although police officers responded to the demonstrations, they did not shoot the protesters.
“As regional commander in charge of Nairobi, police deployment is daily. That day they reacted to the situation on the ground. I didn't learn of any other deaths on June 20. I confirm police service is a line of security and we take responsibility when matters get out of hand. If the country is in distress it is our responsibility to deploy and manage the situation," said Mr Bungei.
Another senior police officer, Doris Mugambi, who at that time served as Nairobi Central OCPD, told the inquest that initial report was a sharp object had stabbed the victim but after the post mortem it was discovered he had a single gunshot wound.
She said no specific police unit was deployed to deal with the protestors as she denied knowledge of a police unit named “Alpha Mike”.
“We had information from social media that there would be demonstrations by Gen-Z. No specific deployment of police was made. We always have officers on stand-by. We usually have our normal deployments of officers. They handle things on the ground in case anything happens,” said Ms Mugambi.
She stated that during the protests there were attempts by rowdy youth to disrupt activities within the CBD from early morning to 11.00am but the police contained the situation until 4pm.
“At 4pm a group turned rowdy and started engaging in criminal activities. We tried to contain the situation. At this time I was at parliament. It was a helter-skelter situation as criminal activities continued,” she testified.
The hearing continues.