Lamu officers arrest suspected police attackers, kill one

Police officers in Lamu have gunned down the host of a homestead where two suspects believed to have been among those who attacked police officers at Siyu village last Friday were hiding.

On Friday, police officers who were walking back to the Siyu Police Post were critically injured after they were attacked by three men.

During the 8.30pm incident, the officers shot and killed one of the attackers, as the others escaped into the nearby bushes.

Since Friday, there has been a manhunt for the two suspects across Lamu, only for them to be found hiding at one of the homesteads in Kwasasi Village, which is about 200 kilometres from Siyu.

Speaking to the Nation on Monday, Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia said the police were forced to shoot and kill 30-year-old Bunu Sabaki Shee after he refused to surrender together with the other two suspects.

"A group of armed police officers, acting on intel, had gone to Kwasasi Village to arrest some two suspects believed to have committed a heinous act of attacking a police officer at Siyu. They were hiding at Shee's homestead. They found all the three men in a shamba cultivating. The officers surrounded the shamba before they challenged the three men armed with pangas surrender. Two of the suspects fled into the nearby bushes while Mr Shee attacked one of the officers. He was shot dead in an effort to immobilise him," said Mr Macharia.

Warning shot ignored

According to a police report seen by the Nation, despite the police officers firing two warning shots, Mr Shee continued to advance towards his target.

"Unfortunately, he was hit by a bullet and succumbed to the injuries," says the report.

Mr Macharia said the two suspects who fled were later arrested.

"They will be helping the police with investigations before they are presented in court," he said.

During the incident, officers also discovered that the one acre shamba the suspects were cultivating was full of marijuana, which they uprooted.