A protester who succumbed to gunshot wounds on the evening of Thursday, June 20, 2024, has been identified as Rex Kanyike Masai.
According to popular human rights activist Boniface Mwangi, his body (Rex) was moved to the Nairobi Funeral home pending a postmortem report.
Mwangi said the body had to be booked into a public mortuary as police began investigations into a possible homicide.
“I have met with Rex’s mum, and we are on our way to City Mortuary. Since it’s a homicide, the police have said the body has to be booked in a public mortuary. After the post-mortem, we shall move Rex.” Mwangi wrote on his X handle.
I have met with Rex’s mum, and we are on our way to City Mortuary. Since it’s a homicide, the police have said the body has to be booked in a public mortuary. After the post mortem, we shall move Rex. Her name is Gillian Munyao, and a killer cop just shattered her life forever. https://t.co/zYtyK6oB21 pic.twitter.com/HLYWdkFMmc
— The People’s Watchman (@bonifacemwangi) June 20, 2024
The 24-year-old Kanyike is suspected to have been killed by police who had reverted to using live bullets to disperse the sizeable number of protesters who continued to engage police in running battles under the lights in the city center.
In a video circulating online, a man believed to be a law enforcement officer is seen discharging a live bullet towards protesters who were scampering away in the back-and-forth confrontations.
Kanyike later succumbed to the injuries after being rushed to the nearby Bliss Healthcare Center, near Kenya Archives in Nairobi’s Central Business district.
Protester to be honoured
Kenyans on X, formerly Twitter have continued to share the video of the shooting in an attempt to identify the shooter who was dressed casually making it hard to know whether he was a police officer or not.
The killer shooter is captured on camera donning a black cap, blue shirt, black jeans, and white sneakers.
A section of Kenyans online have suggested having the name of the dead protester engraved in history as a martyr who lost his life agitating for the rights and freedoms of Kenyans.
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