Policeman guns down four others and self

An officer in Butere shot his four colleagues and a civilian dead then killed himself allegedly in anger at the announced visit by his wife at the police camp.

Administration Police officer Hudson Juma Alondo shot fellow officers at Shiatsala camp, according to Butere sub-county Deputy Commissioner Joshua Chepchieng.

Mr Chepchieng said Mr Alondo went to the office of the sergeant-in-charge of the camp, Mr William Esieny, and shot him.

GIRLFRIEND REFUSED TO LEAVE

The other victims are officers Fabian Lumwachi and Daniel Okotoy, whom the constable killed in their office.

The constable then turned the gun on Ms Caren Awiti and her civilian husband as they prepared supper in their house.

The deputy commissioner said Mr Alondo was allegedly enraged by his wife for visiting him without alerting him.

Witnesses said that the wife arrived at the camp on Tuesday and caught him with a girlfriend who refused to leave despite attempts by other police officers to persuade her to do so.

Mr Chepchieng said Mr Alondo had worked at the camp for five years and was disciplined and never demonstrated strange behaviour before the shocking shooting. He said investigations had been launched.

“We urge the public to remain calm as the police carry out investigations,” the administrator said.

The bodies are at the Kakamega Provincial General Hospital mortuary.

SHOCKED CROWD

A shocked crowd milled at the camp. Among them were relatives of the slain officers.

A survivor and the wife of one of the dead officers recounted to the Nation at the scene how Const Alondo shot at his colleagues indiscriminately and confronted her demanding a gun he claimed she was hiding.

“I told him there was no gun in the house and he left in a huff. I was shaken,” Ms Elizabeth Were said.

She said that her attempts to alert her husband, who was on duty, were fruitless.

“I learnt of my husband’s death in the morning,” Ms Were said.

“The officers had been summoned to fill forms that were urgently required in Kakamega when they were shot,” a police officer who sought anonymity since he is not allowed to speak to the Press said.

Witnesses said that the constable went berserk following the arrival of his wife and their two children on Tuesday afternoon from Khwisero in Butere. “The wife found a woman in her husband’s house. The woman refused to leave,” Ms Were told the Nation.

The wife was persuaded to spend the night in the house of her husband’s colleague after pleas to the other woman fell on deaf ears.

Only one officer on duty escaped death.

He wrestled down Mr Alondo and took away the gun. However, the attacker rushed to the armoury to take another gun and shot himself.