Kenya: Police officer ‘goes beserk’, kills 7 colleagues

Kenya: Police officer ‘goes beserk’, kills 7 colleagues

Deaths reported after a police officer opens fire on fellow officers at a Kapenguria police station in western Kenya

A Kenyan police officer went on a shooting spree on Thursday, killing seven of his colleagues including a hostage response team member before the standoff ended in a shootout, a police report said.

The siege in Kapenguria began early on Thursday when the attacker, identified as Abdilhakim Maslah, opened fire on his fellow officers, leading to a hostage situation.

Police at first suspected the attacker had ties to the al-Shabab group based in neighboring Somalia.

The police report says Maslah, a station guard, got off work Wednesday night but returned to the Kapenguria station shortly after 5am on Thursday and started shooting.

A separate police statement to the media said the officer, “for yet unknown reasons, went berserk and grabbed a firearm” and started shooting.

That statement said the officer wore a “turban that covered his whole face, leading to the previous suspicions” that he was an extremist.

Earlier, Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet had said in a statement that commandos had surrounded the police station in an attempt to bring the standoff to an end. READ MORE

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com