A Form Four student was shot dead by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers in Tsavo National Park on Friday morning. A family in Kibwezi East in Makueni county is mourning the death of a Form Four student who was allegedly shot dead by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers while hunting in Tsavo National Park.
The 17-year old boy, a day scholar, is said to have been in the company of another man who escaped. The deceased’s father, Kioko Kasangili, said the boy called him at 4 am on Friday morning and told him that he had been shot by KWS rangers and was unable to walk. “My son told me he had been injured on one leg and hand and that he was hiding in a thicket. He told me to hurry and rescue him,” Kasangili said. He said he opted to report the matter at Mtito-Andei police station after neighbours warned him against going into the park.
Kasangili went to the station to report the matter but was informed that there was no such case reported there. He was told to wait as they contacted their colleagues from KWS. A KWS vehicle later arrived at the station carrying the lifeless body of his son. Kasangili said a police officer in the station directed him to the rangers in the parking who asked him to identify the body to confirm whether it was that of his son.
“I positively identified the body as that of my son, he had a wound on the chest. It appears they went back and killed him after they learned the case had been reported,” he said. Kasangili said the rangers showed him a gun, they claimed was recovered from the boy. He said the KWS officers went out of the station and returned with another gun, an AK 47, they claimed was in the hands of the other man who escaped.
He denied that his son was in possession of a gun. “I don’t know how the boy got into the park at night because we all went to sleep. The police should have arrested him and taken him to court instead of shooting him,” Kasangili said. Kibwezi OCPD Ben Chagulo confirmed the incident and said they have already launched investigations into the matter. “It is true the schoolboy was shot at the park but a probe is underway,” Chagulo said.
KWS spokesperson Paul Gathitu said the case involves a suspected poacher and they were compiling a report that will be released once complete. “I am in communication with the officers on the ground and we shall give further details once we are through,” he said.