Jonah Kariuki, the father of a 22-year-old man, said on Wednesday that Kenyan police shot his son at point-blank range during protests in the capital, Nairobi.
The son, however, is still alive and remains in intensive care.
Kariuki said his son, Boniface Kariuki, was receiving treatment at the government-funded Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi.
“He is on machine support. I have seen he has a heartbeat. I have some hope.
“He was selling masks. He’s not a criminal. I have never heard of him stealing,” Kariuki said.
A Reuters journalist reported seeing the young man lying on the ground on Tuesday with a heavily bleeding head wound, clutching a packet of face masks in his hand.
Protests erupted in Nairobi and Kenya’s second-largest city, Mombasa, on Tuesday over the death of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang, who died in police custody on June 8.
A video posted by Kenyan broadcaster Citizen Television on its X account showed two policemen repeatedly striking a man, later identified as Boniface Kariuki, on the head.
One of the officers then fired at him with a long-barrelled gun as he tried to walk away.
Police later confirmed that an officer had been arrested in connection with the shooting.
The death of 31-year-old Ojwang has intensified public outrage over long-standing allegations of extrajudicial killings by security forces in the East African country.
Police had initially claimed Ojwang died by suicide, but later apologised after an independent autopsy revealed injuries consistent with assault.
President William Ruto acknowledged that Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police.”
Human rights organisations, the Law Society of Kenya, and the judiciary have all expressed concern over the growing number of alleged cases of police brutality.
(Reuters/NAN)
