Revealed: Last moments of KWS ranger who killed reveller before taking own life in Rongai

“May God bless you.” 

Those were the last words that Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) ranger Mohamed Daudi, who shot and killed a reveller in a club in Ongata Rongai, told a boda boda who dropped him home before he died by suicide. 

It all started in the wee hours of Saturday morning, August 17, when an altercation ensued between Daudi and a civilian, identified as Stanley Kuria, at N Bar at Tumaini Area on Mugis Road.

After the altercation, Daudi who was supposed to be on duty at that time, left the club and later came back armed with an AK47 rifle.

He stormed into the nightclub before ordering everyone to lie down and only targeted his victim, 24-year-old Kuria. 

Police and witnesses said the ranger only targeted Kuria whom he shot three times in the back and head before ordering the club to close as he left. 

After accomplishing his mission, he left the bar, commandeered a motorcycle and the rider to take him home lest he suffers the same fate. 

In his report to the police, the rider, John Wamae, said that on their way, Daudi ordered him to stop at a shop that sells muguka where asked for some.

Here, Wamae said, another argument ensued after the muguka seller told the ranger that the muguka cost Sh70 yet Daudi had only paid Sh50. 

The ranger brandished his gun and the shopkeeper let him have his way.

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“He pointed the gun at me and I told him it was okay. He then left and jumped onto the waiting motorcycle,” said the muguka seller. 

The rider who was still waiting added that he dropped the ranger at his residence near Nairobi National Park Workshop.

“When I dropped him, he said 'may God bless you' and I left,” he said.

Police believe that the ranger took his own life using the same riffle after reaching his residence where he lived alone.

Police at the scene said the bullet was fired on the chin and exited through the pate. At the ranger's house, police recovered a magazine with 20 live bullets. No suicide note was found at the scene.

At the nightclub, which was also processed as a crime scene, police found three spent cartridges.

Colleagues who spoke to Nation.Africa on condition of anonymity said the assailant was a loner and always complained of being stressed by work and family issues.

“He lived alone here and he has been having financial, work and family challenges,” said one officer.

It is not clear what prompted the altercation at the nightclub.

The bodies of the deceased ranger and that of his victim were moved to Nairobi Funeral Home.

Recent cases of suicide among uniformed officers have been linked to stress and trauma caused by the demanding nature of their work.

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The National Police Service Commission has a working counselling policy for its members, whose work is complemented by the National Police Chaplaincy Directorate, both of which enable any member of the service in need of counselling to seek professional counselling services when the need arises.

Following assessment, officers in need of further care are referred to the Chiromo Hospital Group, which is run by mental health experts.

Mental health experts have noted that the working environment of officers, combined with long periods away from family and friends, regular transfers and the lack of systematic counselling services, have also long been detrimental to the mental well-being of officers.

A report by the Task Force on Mental Health in Kenya recommended that mental illness be declared a national emergency of epidemic proportions and that a Mental Wellness and Happiness Commission be established to monitor the state of mental health and happiness among Kenyans.

The task force recommended that suicide be decriminalised to reduce the stigma associated with such acts and to promote early identification, treatment and follow-up of people at risk of suicide.

However, the increasing number of suicides and killings by police officers has led to a misunderstanding of the general state of mental health among officers in the country.

"We keep forgetting that police officers are ordinary people in an extraordinary environment. Being on the front line responding to terror threats and picking up bodies from the Yala River is not what human beings are made for," top psychiatrist, Dr Frank Njenga said at the time.

The report recommended that officers who show symptoms of mental illness should be denied access to firearms.

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