The family of Janet Waiyaki, 41, a victim of police shooting, is yet to come to terms with the loss of a loved one.
She was killed on Sunday when two Administration Police Officers opened fire on her vehicle at City Park where she was relaxing in a car together with a friend.
The two AP officers, Constable William Chirchir from Makadara Police Station and AP constable, Godfrey Kirui, from Industrial Area Police Station, fired 15 bullets into the vehicle.
Bernard Chege, 26, a survivor of a strange police shooting and who was in company with Waiyaki said he tried to drive off against caution by the police when they opened fire killing the mother of three and leaving him in need of blood.
He is nursing gunshot injuries at Avenue Hospital.
“I have never been shot before. This is like a movie to me. When I was shot, I tried to apply pressure on the wound. It was very painful. I begged the cops to give me a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding, they didn’t want to help,” he narrates on his hospital bed according to Daily Nation.
He said the shooting was uncalled for because they were just relaxing at the usual spot at the park.
However, police in their report said the two were in a “compromising situation” and that officers shot at the Toyota Fielder car registration number KBX 515H after the occupants defied orders to open the doors and sped off.
A report sent to police headquarters by Parklands police boss Chief Inspector Moses Shikuku read that: “They knocked on the tinted windows, but there was no response and all of a sudden, the vehicle sped off towards the road.”
“The vehicle then stopped and inside were a male and a female namely Bernard Chege, 26 years old and Janet Wangui Waiyaki aged 41 years. They had gunshot wounds.”
Both were rushed to Avenue Hospital in Parklands by Waiyaki was pronounced dead on arrival.
The puzzle now is how two officers shot at civilians outside their area of jurisdiction. They have since been disarmed together with four other officers who were present during the incident.
Nairobi County Police Commander Joseph ole Tito in response to the incident said the presence of the car at the same spot for hours drew suspicion.
“We are currently on high alert following reports of an impending Al-Shabaab attack during the Ramadhan period. We are not taking chances on security. But these officers became overly reactive,” said Tito adding investigations into the incident have kicked off.
But family members said the car arrived at the park 45 minutes earlier before the shooting incident.
“How long is a vehicle supposed to be parked somewhere before it can be declared suspicious?” one of Waiyaki’s relatives asked.
The family members have also questioned reports by police that two occupants were found half-naked yet Chege was rushed to hospital with his clothes on while Waiyaki was taken to the mortuary half-naked.
“Janet was in the back seat. The police want us to believe that Chege had enough time to dress up, belt up and jump from the back seat to the driver’s seat and start driving before they could open fire. Does that mean Janet could not have worn her clothes too?”
Both Waiyaki and Chege are related. Chege is the nephew of Waiyaki’s husband. Family members described the two as close and often hang out together especially when Waiyaki did not have a car to run her errands.
Chege who is still lying in his hospital bed said there was nothing between him and Waiyaki.
“I hear that they are saying there was an affair between the two of us…there is nothing like that.”