Police officer shoots colleague dead, injures boss in suspected love triangle
An officer is accused of fatally shooting a colleague in the eye during a heated quarrel at the Kaongo Ka Mpio GSU camp.
Police are investigating an incident where a General Service Unit (GSU) officer shot dead his colleague and injured his boss in a suspected love triangle at the Kaongo Ka Mpio GSU camp in Igembe North, Meru County.
Police Constable Abel Chumba is accused of fatally shooting Pontianus Ikomoli, 22, in the eye.
Chumba, 34, is said to have confronted Mr Ikomoli at around 9pm on Tuesday night and their quarrel degenerated into a fight before he shot him in a fit of rage.
When the officer in charge of the station, Inspector Michael Ngugi, went to intervene, Chumba fired at his boss, seriously injuring his left arm.
The assailant then fled into a bush.
Officers from the nearby Kinisa GSU operation camp responded to the incident, searched for the assailant and apprehended him on Wednesday afternoon.
Igembe North Deputy County Commissioner Harrison Ndwili said the officer was found hiding in a shack near the camp and was being held at the Mutuati Police Station.
The Kaongo Ka Mpio GSU camp was officially opened last month in a bid to stem cattle rustling in the area.
“It was a misunderstanding between the two officers. There is speculation that it could have been over a woman but we are still trying to find out (more),” Mr Ndwili said.
The camp, built by the local NG-CDF, houses about 50 officers from the paramilitary wing of the National Police Service to offer round-the-clock security in the dangerous cattle rustling corridor.
Detectives seized a G3 rifle with seven rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from the suspect.
Police found 13 spent cartridges at the scene of the shooting.
The body of Constable Ikomoli was moved to the Nyambene Sub-County Hospital mortuary while the injured officer was recuperating at Maua Methodist Hospital.
